The Interpretation of Piano Music (By Mary Venable) (1913) PDF

The Interpretation of
Piano Music
THE INTERPRETATION
OF
PIANO MUSIC
BY
MARY VENABLE
BOSTON
OLIVER DITSON COMPANY
NEW YORK CHICAGO
CHAS. H. DITSON CO. LYON & HEALY
MADE IN U. S. A.
Copyright, MCMXIII
BY OLIVER DITSON COMPANY
International Copyright Secured
_ NOV2 01968 ))
OF
M
TOROtfJs^
-----r^&r
m
7f
V?7
TO MY MOTHER
PREFACE
A GERMAN authority has remarked that if it were as easy
to read music as to read words, "the sonatas of Beethoven would
have the popularity of the poems of Schiller." The difficulty
of comprehending the full import of music written for the piano-
forte arises from the fact that the signs representing the con-
ceptions of the composer are variable and inaccurate, being,

at best, suggestive, but never absolutely precise.
The prime object of the work here offered to the student
is him in acquiring a correct understanding of the
to assist
visiblelanguage of music; to gather the significance of the
abbreviated modes of a notation which must be rightly
interpreted by the mind before the music can be conveyed
to the ear by means of the mechanism of the pianoforte. Very
little attention has been given to the subject in printed pub-
lications, and these pages are intended to set forth the princi-
ples involved, in a way that is not merely of theoretic interest

but is also of practical value.
It is believed that this brief treatise is the first which
adequately considers the matters brought to the reader's
attentionunder the topics: Bowing-signs, Musical Symbols
and Meaning; How to Find a Hidden Melody; Har-
their
mony: Duration and Dynamics of Tones in the Different

Voices; A Theme of Chopin Interpreted; and Orchestration
at the Pianoforte. Some portions of the discussion of the
Appoggiatura and the Acciaccatura will be found at variance
with the explanations often given of these terms, which a're
sometimes confused even by high authorities. The chapter
on The Pedals, the substance of which was first presented in
the form of lectures, considers the topic with special refer-
ence to Notation, lays stress on the necessary cooperation
of the fingers with the feet, gives a bibliography of works
vi PREFACE.
dealing with the pedal, and briefly explains various methods

of pedal notation formerly in common use.
From time to time, since July, 1902, much of the matter
of this volume has appeared in The Musician, Boston, The
Etude, Philadelphia, and The Courier, Cincinnati; but every
paragraph has been carefully revised, and in many instances
the original papers have been considerably amplified.
The author wishes to acknowledge deep indebtedness to
her honored master, Signor Albino Gorno, for many facts here
embodied.
MARY VENABLE.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. THE LANGUAGE OF Music 1
II. MUSICAL SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANING 8
III. BOWING-SIGNS THE SLUR, THE DOT, THE DASH.
: . 23
IV. PHRASING 46
V. THE ACCIACCATURA-ARPEGGIO 54
VI. THE ACCIACCATURA AND OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS 63
VII. THE APPOGGIATURA 73
VIII. How TO FIND A HIDDEN MELODY 89
IX. HARMONY: DURATION AND DYNAMICS OF TONES
IN THE DIFFERENT VOICES 104
X. A THEME OF CHOPIN INTERPRETED 118
XI. ORCHESTRATION AT THE PIANOFORTE 139
XII. THE PEDALS 154
XIII. A WORD ON TECHNIC . , .216
VII
THE INTERPRETATION OF PIANO Music
CHAPTER I
THE LANGUAGE OF Music

The art of reading a piece of literature, an essay, for ex-
ample, or a poem, consists of gathering into the mind from
the printed page the meaning contained in and Reading
defined
suggested by the words and sentences which
constitute the particular work perused. If the reader possess
the knowledge requisite to a complete understanding of all
the words, sentences and punctuation marks in their separate
values and in their logical and grammatical relations, he may
fully comprehend and appreciate the essay or the poem, pos-
sibly at a single reading, having, through the eye, taken into
his consciousness the impressions which the author intended
to convey by means of the arbitrary forms at his command.
Subjectively, such a reader has mastered the content of thought
and of feeling represented by the text which visually and men-
tallyhe has inspected. Should he desire to communicate to
another the impression he has received from the printed page,
he may, by the organs of speech, render audible and intel-
ligible the significance of the same piece of literature.
In the
necessarily more or mechanical
less process of embodying the
silent spirit of the composition in vocal utterance he will be
much aided by the devices invented for facilitating spoken
speech, namely, articulation, accent, emphasis, tone-qualities,
pauses, in a word, elocution. On the inspired lips of a
genius like Novelli or Edwin Booth, even the best language
of a supreme dramatist receives a new and incalculable value
of interpretative art.
There is a close analogy between the method of learning
to read a piece of literature, especially a poem, and that of
1
2 INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC.
learning to read a piece of music, for there may be said to be

a language of music, though to the eye it differs essentially
Musk and from ordinary written or printed language. The
rhythmic thoughts, concepts or emotions which it is the
function of the composer of music to convey to the
mind, through either the eye or the ear, or through both, are not
represented by words of definite, limited meaning, arranged
in the usual grammatical and logical sequence, but they are
represented by other sets of symbols which, like words, are

recognizable to the eye by their form and to the ear by their
sound. The purpose of musical expression is certainly no less
exact than that of poetical expression, and the written lan-
guage of music, slowly developed through the centuries, has
become an exceedingly complex and intricate system, often
very difficult to master. Nevertheless it is evident that until
the student has acquired skill in the ready understanding of

what confronts him on the puzzling pages of his musical score,
until, as Berlioz says, "he divines music before he has read
it," he cannot hope to take silent pleasure from reading
it to himself, much less give pleasure by translating it into
the vibrations of a singing voice or of the strings of a piano.

The artist whether vocal or instrumental, must somehow get
,.
the music into his soul before he can bring it to his tongue and
lips or to the tips of his fingers. Therefore the first necessity
for the student of music is, Learn to read! And the second?
Learn to read! And the third? Learn to read!
It is fundamental to any symbolized scheme of music that
there should be at least a staff, a clef and some notes. To
Music a these essentials have been added numerous ac-

symboiized cessory marks and devices, such as the slur, the
dot, the bar, the rest, to aid the reader to an
easier and more felicitous understanding and interpretation of
the elementary mechanism jus mentioned.
The notes, which singly and in combinations of varying
complexity constitute the main body of the text of a piece of
music, represent tones, and they may be said to correspond to
the letters, especially the vowels, of ordinary language, which
INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC. 3
represent elementary sounds. The smallest organic unit in

music is not the note or tone, but consists of a group of notes
or tones. Such a group, having a certain com- The period

pleteness or pleasing effect in itself, though never the phrase and
1(
independent of its organic relations to the whole

composition of which it is a vital part, is recognized by musi-
cians as a motive, and forms an integral member of a phrase.
The phrase, though bearing a resemblance to the phrase of the
grammarian, cannot be identified with that, but is peculiar to
the art of music.Indeed, what is known as phrasing is one of
the complicated and difficult subjects of musical study. The
process of musical phrasing, or resolving the composition into
intelligible and component ideas, is comparable to the gram-
matical analysis of complex sentences in ordinary language.
When we consider that the phrase is "the structural basis of
all musical forms," we realize how important an element in
musical education is that which consists in teaching pupils

to discern with accuracy just what is included in each succes-
sive phrase and
just how
the phrase as a whole is related to
its subordinate parts and to other complete phrases. Much
confusion prevails even in the writings of authorities of good
reputation in regard to the precise meaning of the words
"phrase" and "phrasing," and a reckless terminology,
confounding the application of such names as half-phrase,
section, phraselet and figure, and these with the
motive,
phrase which
of they are but subdivisions or members,
befogs the mind and misleads the practice of earnest learners
of music. The true musical phrase, owing to its integral
character and relative independence, corresponds somewhat
to the simple sentence of ordinary language; but it is to
be observed that, in music also, the terms "sentence" and
"period" are specially employed to designate a melody ex-
tending through a series of measures and having a certain
completeness larger than that of the phrase, and comprising
in itselftwo phrases and sometimes more than two. Sen-
tential subdivisions may begin at any part of a measure,
whether it be unaccented or accented. The musical period
or sentence corresponds, insome degree, to the stanza of poetry;

and, indeed, the province of the composer of music and that of
the builder of
"
lofty rhyme" lie very near together and, in
some cases, appear to overlap each other.
Musical articulation may be denned as the act of forming,
in song, or by means of instruments, or by combinations of any
purposes of
^ these, the elements of musical language. The
musical articulate character of music depends upon a
division of collocated tones with reference to
component and the uniting of these together into

single tones
intelligible groups so as to form so-called motives. Each tone
should have its due proportion of sound so that the ear shall
easily perceive either its detachment from other tones or its
connection with other tones. In music, as in oral speech, a
good articulation gives greater power and reach than the
loudest vociferation can give. The objects of musical articu-
lation are to show the derivation or composition of figures,
motives and passages and to divide musical groups properly when
disconnection is desirable. By false division of the tones
these objects are defeated, the text is misrepresented, and the
music rendered unintelligible.

is
Certain general indications symbolical of the intended

articulation are desirable both in printed speech and in printed
s mboiization of
usic. m
It is indeed possible to read a poem in
articulation is not separated from each other,
which the lines are
as in writing, and we often read
some ancient
music in which the articulation is not indicated, as in the
older classical music yet in neither case is the reading entirely
;
easy, nor is it always possible to know exactly the meaning of

the writer, since diverse articular divisions may make quite
different impressions. On the other hand, a book which makes
too frequent use of quotation marks, parentheses and
italics,
punctuation marks not pleasant and facile reading and, simi-

is
larly, a piece of music which is over-edited by an excessive

use of double-stems, dots, dashes, tenuto marks, slurs, accent
marks, dynamic signs, tempo marks, fingerings, and notes of
different sizes, is hard to read, and in spite of its multiplied
notations still remains incompletely symbolized. The accom-

plished musician usually advises his pupils to consult and
thoroughly to master the different finely edited and annotated
publications of the works they are studying, as well as the
original edition; although for his own use the master prefers
the moderately symbolized original edition, supplementing
this with his own originality, feeling, taste, and knowledge,
thereby recreating the work, so that in many respects his
interpretation differs from that of his peers.
In speech, the connection and the disconnection of words
and of syllables are indicated by a close juxtaposition of letters,
by spaces, by hyphens, and by diacritical marks; The symbols of
and similarly, in music, the connection and the articulation
disconnection of tones are indicated by slurs, by tenuto marks,
by dots and by vertical dashes placed over or under the notes,
by various combinations of these signs applied to the notes,
by the absence of all these signs from a note or from a continu-
ous succession of notes, by rests, and by pedal marks. But it
must always be remembered that, like all other intended
effects, musical articulation is only in small measure symbol-
ized by the composer, who employs the signs only as suggest-
ive guides to the intuition and skill of the player and not as
a complete expression of his own intention.
In the proper and expressive rendering of a musical com-
position, either by means of the voice or by means of a musical
instrument, it is necessary to observe pauses of
Punctuation
varying length in order to bring out the meaning Rhetorical and
sentential P auses
of the writer, just as in compositions where
words instead of notes are used as signs of ideas. But the
formal punctuation of music is not usually indicated on the
printed page in the original works of important composers.
Much is left to the judgment and discretion of the reader or
performer of the music. However, it is customary for those
who annotate special editions of standard works for the use of
pupils to supply some of such guiding marks as obviously were
understood and observed in the mind of the composer. When,
by an editor or a judicious teacher, with print or pencil, marks
are added to the original score to suggest the correct mode of
punctuation, these auxiliaries usually, instead of being commas,

semicolons, and periods, as in common print, are such musical
signs as the slur, interlacing slurs, short lines placed singly
or in couples across a line of the staff or above the staff, the
fermata, the breath-mark, rests, etc. The duration of each
of the several pauses should be proportional to the degree
of connection between the parts of the musical discourse,
and their effective employment depends in great measure upon
the taste, feeling, and imagination of the performer who en-
deavors to interpret the symbolized message of the composer.
It is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, by any mode
or degree of explanatory notation to supply adequate guidance
Audible to him who pursues the path toward superior
interpretation
musicianship, unillumined by the inner lamp of
clear judgment and intuitive sense of fitness. The laws of just
proportion apply to all the fine arts, and the correct interpre-
tation of a masterpiece depends upon the same esthetic prin-
ciple as does the perfect vocal rendering of a masterpiece of
literature in artistic recitation. Considerations of tempo,
quantity, accent, emphasis, modulation of tone, grammatical
and rhetorical articulation and pause, delicate variation from
rigid rules, individuality, continually arise whenever by means
of the voice or through the agency of a musical instrument a
sensitive singer or player endeavors to reproduce by audible
interpretation the inspired conception which lay in the^soul of

a Bach, a Mozart, a Schubert, and which the master himself
inadequately represented in the scores which he may have
dashed off in the hurried "rapture of creation." "That a
genius like Chopin did not indicate everything accurately is
quite explainable," writes Rosenthal. "He flew, where we
merely limp after."
Yet we must not undervalue the mechanical aids that it
is the office of the competent editor to furnish. As Schumann

"
Schumann's says, Music would indeed be a miserable art, if
words it were able to describe affections only by sounds
without language and symbols."

Those modulations of tone termed coloring and shading

are largely dependent upon the taste, emotional depth, and
poetic vision of the interpreter, and it is of the
utmost importance that they should be diversi-
fied,natural, and rightly adapted to the subject, for upon
them in great measure depends the auditor's enjoyment of
the musical performance.
The player's technical command and intuitive feeling are
assumed by the composer to be amply sufficient to interpret
the written music with convincing musical and
poetic art. Absolute departure from the written
indications of accredited authorities is not to be tolerated in a
beginner, although the master musician, being a law unto him-
self, while violating no esthetic principle, may disregard musical
rules, as a poet may break stereotyped rules of versification,

"
since, as Busoni says, The delivery of a work is a transcrip-
tion," and "It is for the interpreter to resolve the rigidity of
the signs into the primitive emotion."
practice of music can proceed only from a
Intelligent
full recognition of the elementary principles here briefly dis-
cussed. Most of the causes which prevent a
... ,. . . , , , Notation
correct interpretation of piano music might be suggestive,
removed without that music never tun ?
.
difficulty providing elaborated
. , .
be considered as an accurate means to a definite

end, an art by means of which the soul and the imagination
find expression through the voice and instrument, conveying
musical thought and feeling in a manner analogous to that by
which, through verse, the poet communicates the thoughts,
sentiments and aspirations of mankind in the language of
words. All notation is suggestive rather than fully elaborated,
for the finest shades of interpretation cannot even be suggested
by any mechanical contrivance. "All nuances cannot be indi-
cated," wrote Beethoven. The musician of breadth and depth
comprehends the given signs in their complete significance and
in all their relations to the other implied and printed indications,
since to him, as to Mendelssohn, "Music is a distinct language."
CHAPTER II
MUSICAL SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANING

The notation used in writing music for the pianoforte
might aptly be called musical shorthand. Often representing
Musical solely the simplest way of writing a musical
shorthand
thought, it may also include suggestions in regard
to the manner of performance, and the complications and in-
adequacies of a notation addressing two senses, hearing and

touch, and symbolical both of effects for the ear and of
directions to fingers and foot, are among the difficulties with
which the pianist contends. Sometimes the sound is more
fully expressed by the musical characters than is the mode of
execution, and sometimes vice versa, the rendition being the
same in both cases. As a passage may therefore be notated
in many different ways, a thorough and comprehensive knowl-
edge of the language of music is essential in order to perceive

from the context the true significance of every note.
It is at times impossible for the composer to write in such
a manner that his conception will be disclosed to the pianist
Tonal duration
a^ SO a mus i c i an I*1 a ^ HlUsic the
-
not definitely pitch of a note is absolutely determined by the

clef preceding it, and in a work composed for
orchestral instruments, where each part usually is written on
a separate staff, the relative duration of tones is indicated by
the notes, and silence by the rests; while the few signs referring
to execution are quite definite in their nature. But in a piano-
forte composition all the parts, frequently six, eight or more,
are compressed upon two staves only, and in the case of an or-
chestral transcription, oran orchestrally conceived piano com-
position, a very large number
of voices may be represented in
the necessarily limited and fewer number of notes which con-
veniently can be used. It follows that one note may stand for
several tones of the same pitch but of varying duration and
dynamics, and a developed musical intelligence is necessary to
understand its true import; for in written pianoforte music,
pitch only is designated with definiteness; signs of tonal dura-

tion, release and attack, connection and disconnection are
vague, often equivocal, while many of those betokening tonal
quantity and quality are not invariable in meaning.
EXAMPLE 1
a. Original notation.
i
6. Notes symbolizing execution of a.
c. Another notation of a.
I ,_K _ I i k ^ N I
What could look simpler than the notes of Example 1 a?

Yet the correct way of playing them can be deduced only
from an understanding of the idea which they Diverse read_
convey, for the intended duration of the tones ings, synonymous
notations
may or may not be fully symbolized. If they be
written for the violoncello or other orchestral instrument or for ;
the pianoforte, but imagined as in imitation of an orchestral

instrument, they do show the exact duration of the tones; but
usually such arpeggiated harmonies form accompaniment to
some melody and should not be given as a meager and dry
succession of single tones, but so as to sustain all or some of
the tones of the harmony, by means of the fingers, the pedal,
or both. The full duration of these tones, as usually played, is
shown with precision in the two versions at 1 b and 1 c. But it
isapparent that a piece notated in either of these ways would
be extremely difficult to read, and would not convey the de-
signed meaning nearly so quickly nor so completely as does the
ordinary method of writing shown at a, which, simple as it is,
assumes a certain amount of musical insight and experience on

the part of the performer. Besides, even when it is both pos-
sible and desirable to point out unmistakably the duration of
tones, to do so takes a great deal of the composer's valuable

time. Obviously, these three illustrations may typify the same
sound; equally true is it that the example at a may have diverse
authentic readings.
What does a rest mean? Silence? Sometimes; not always.
There are sounding rests as well as rests of silence. It constantly
happens that although the tone should be held,
Sounding rests; *C
manual the fingers have to be removed from the keys,
execution
g^d a res ^ j s written for them, but not for the
tone, in which case the notation of the musical
conception is complicated with that referring to the execution,
the symbols indicating now one, now the other, now both of
these, as is shown in the illustration 2 a, taken from Schumann's
Novelette in A major, in which each bass tone should sound
through the measure in the manner shown at 2 b.
EXAMPLE 2
SCHUMANN Novelette in A major, Op. 21, No. 6.
b. The bass, notated as it sounds, and accompanying chords.
A
c. The melody, notated as it sounds.
The notation 2 6, more indicative of the desired musical

effect than of the means used to produce that effect, calls for
the same manner of playing
J as the original no-
..^ Exact tonal dura-
, tation, both demanding the employment of the ion and pedal t
execution sym-
damper pedal, as the ringers of the left hand can-
not sustain the bass part while playing the inner
parts. Another instance in which the manner of performance
is more symbolized than is the sound, occurs in Example 2 a
in the notes and rests written for the right. hand; at c the
notes represent the melody as it actually sounds, without
specifying whether the tones are sustained by ringers or by
pedal. In the original notation, a, the melody of the first two
measures is written in quarter-notes, because the keys produ-
cing the melodic B\> and C must be softly struck again by the
thumb of the left hand in playing an accompanying voice;
but each of these two melodic tones is intended to sound
throughout its measure as if written in half-notes. As in the case
of the bass, each of these notes of the melody demands the use
of the pedal, without which the melodic tones cannot be sus-
tained and connected.
In cases like these there is sometimes an attempt to indi-
cate both the tonal duration desired a half-note and the
means of producing that duration the use of signs demanding
the pedal and the composer puts the mark useofpedai
"
Ped., as if to say: The tone should be sustained, even
if the fingers cannot do it; the rest is for the fingers,
not for the tone." Frequently, however, it is impossible
to show by signs either the manual and pedal mode of
sustaining a tone without blurring other tones, or the

exact moment of pedal release; and so, although the pedal
is the chief means of orchestral coloring, often its use is not
indicated. When in any voice there is a note of long or of

short duration which represents a tone sustained through many
measures, the employment of the pedal is usually left to the
judgment of the player. The composer may indicate that the
pedal indispensable by writing under the note to be held
is
the word Ped., without giving a sign for pedal release or ;

he may employ the phrase sempre Pedale (always the pedal) ;

or Ped., and a little later sempre simili (always the same); or,
as Schumann often does, mil Pedal (with pedal). But, even
when not impossible, it remains difficult precisely to designate
the exact moments of pedal attack and release, which is one
of the reasons why the marks Ped. and # usually are placed
incorrectly and are useless as guides to correct pedaling.
The conflict between the representation of the sound of the
music and of the means by which this sound is produced results
Bass notes in form in. the adoption of both of these forms of notation
of grace-notes
m the same composition. This is well illustrated
in No. 6 of Schumann's Bunte Blatter, Op. 99, where, in each
measure, all the chord-notes written for the left hand should
be sustained and have the effect of being connected with those
in the following measure.
EXAMPLE 3
SCHUMANN Bunte Blatter, Op. 99, No. 6.

notes of each measure except the first and lowest note, omitting
this altogether. Second, play the measures in a similar manner,
but omit the second note and hold instead the first note, written
as a small note, which can be done by playing some of the chord-
notes with the right hand. This mode of playing is at once per-
ceived to be the stronger and more satisfying, proving that the
indispensable bass tones lie in the lowest voice. These must be
sustained, although represented as grace-notes, and as this can
only be done by the pedal, Schumann gives the general direction,
mil Pedal.
The second chord-note in each of the first three measures
iswritten as a quarter-note; in each of the next four measures
as a dotted half-note in the last measure as a
;
quarter-note. All these should be sustained as and dotted half-
In the note f e<* ual

dotted half-notes as nearly as possible.
fourth, fifth and sixth measures, Schumann writes
the notes on the beat as dotted half-notes, because the
first
player must here sustain and connect them partly by means of

the fingers, substituting the fifth finger for the thumb, in order
to release the pedal so as to prevent a discordant blurring of the
melodic tones C, E\> and Z>b, the last tones of each of these
measures, with the tone preceding it.
But when the measures are correctly played the pedal is
used afresh with each melodic tone as soon as it is connected
with the preceding one of different pitch, so that when the fingers
are removed from the keys to play the next bass note both the
harmony and the melody are sustained and connected to the
tones in the next measure. In measure 7, although the dotted
half-note is stillemployed, there is not the same reason for
writing it so, as all the melodic tones are also chord-tones.
These examples all show that, unfortunately for the pianist
who is not also an experienced musician, the modes by which a
desired orchestral or pianistic effect is indicated are numerous.

Such confusing variety of notation to express a musical idea is
analogous to the mode of spelling in Shakespearean times, when
different combinations of letters were admissible in spelling a
word.
14 INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC,
EXAMPLE 4
SCHUMANN Kinderscenen, Op. 15, No. 10.
Transcribers frequently make sad work of pianoforte

music. In a certain arrangement for strings, of Schumann's
Transcribers' Childhood Scenes, & curious mistake occurs. Evi-
mistakes
dently the transcriber knew but little of the pecu-
liarities of notation in pianoforte music. Throughout the piece
named Almost Too Serious (Fast zu ernst), a few measures of
which are given in Example 4, the first note of each measure is
written as a sixteenth-note, although the composer indicates his
desire to have it held as a bass note by writing at the beginning
of the piece the word Ped. These bass notes were wrongly con-
ceived by the transcriber as intended to be sustained only for
their written duration; and so, in adapting them to the violon-
cello, instead of writing them as connected quarter-notes, he set
them down, unchanged, in their pianistic form, as sixteenth-
notes.This, bad enough in the first few measures, becomes very
unpleasant in effect in the measures where the fermatas
occur, without the sustained bass, the final harmony

as,
becomes a chord of the six-four with which the phrase
closes. The transcriber did not conceive correctly the com-
poser's intention that the bass notes should be sustained not
merely mentally but audibly and by means of that mechanism
which is characteristic solely of the pianoforte the pedal.
Notes and rests apparently written for a single voice may
in reality belong to several voices. And the converse is also
one voice written true, that notes and rests seemingly written for
as several several voices may constitute but a single voice.
These statements are illustrated by the following five musical
examples.
EXAMPLE 5
BACH Prelude in C Major from The Well-tempered Clavichord,

Part II.
(meas. 8)
In the third measure of this Bach Prelude, which is written

in five independent voices, the notes of the theme, in sixteenths
and thirty-seconds, make a single continuous voice, running
thread-like through the other voices, which gradually form an
accompanying harmony in C major, of which the tones C and G
enter simultaneously with tones of the same pitch in the theme,
and are held much longer than they. To one inexperienced in
playing polyphonic music, the notation might be confusing, as,
owing to the merging of two voices in the one note, G, written as
a quarter-note, the theme seems to stop here, and its contin-
uation in the lower staff appears to the eye to belong to another
voice, for the sixteenth-rest (here written for the fingers of the
left hand) may give a false impression that the sixteenth-notes
in the lower staff are a continuation of the bass voice C. In this
example, the quarter-note G, with one stem down-turned,
represents both a melody tone of the value of a sixteenth and an
accompanying tone four times as long.
In the above Example, where one voice is written as several,
it is also the case that two voices are represented
Two voices em_
in one note. Certain measures of the C# minor bodied in one
note
Prelude from The Well-tempered Clavichord, Part
/, contain similar difficulties and still others. The Prelude
begins with these notes :
EXAMPLE 6
BACH C# Minor Prelude.
> J J J j
(meas.1)
Hidden in measure 18, which is given in the next example, is an

imitation of this.
EXAMPLE 7
a. Imitation of Ex. 6, original notation.
* i
(rneas.. 18)
b. A more complete notation.
i
T *
(meas.18)
The melodic imitation at a seems, at the first glance, to

have lost its first note, and to begin with an eighth-rest; while
the dotted half-note E
seems to belong to the upper voice
only. But the imitation
really does begin on the first beat
of the measure with an eighth-note, E, which is not given sep-
arate notation, but is included in the E written as a dotted
half-note, which stands for two voices, not for one as it at
first sight may appear to do. Instead of combining these
two notes in one, the two E's might have been given separate
notation, so as to fully indicate all the notes of both voices,
as shown in 7 6.
Another feature of interest in the original notation given
inExample 7 a is that, as in the C major Prelude, in Example 5,
two accompanying tones (C# and G#) enter simultaneously
with thematic tones of the same pitch, and are sustained longer
than they. This is indicated by the double stems and the slurs.
Here again a note with one stem represents two tones belonging
to different voices and of differing dynamic qualities as well as
differing duration. In this example the rest is neither for the
finger nor the tone, but is a sign put to attract the attention of
the player to the merging of the thematic E with the E of the
highest voice, and also to the entry of the thematic imitation,
so that he may bring it out in an interesting manner and with
sufficient impressiveness.
EXAMPLE 8
___! * L N jJ
4 r T r f
(meas.15)
b. An edited notation of the above.
KZL
In Example 8 a, the notes in the fifteenth measure of

the same Prelude furnish an illustration of both these ways of
writing. The significance of the notes composing an imitation
of the first theme is somewhat concealed by the opposite
directions taken by the stems, as by the note
well as
doing E
duty for more than one voice. The
lowest voice has C#,
which, after a period of rest, descends to a sustained A#, as
shown at 8 b. The F# on the fourth beat is a continuation of
the theme in eighth-notes, as is seen by a comparison of the
original notation in Example 8 a with that of the theme hi
Example 6, which shows clearly that the F# on the fourth
beat and the following G$ and A# constitute an inverted free
imitation of the thematic notes, C#, B and A.
All this is Example 8 6, in more detail than

indicated in
in the original notation at a, by using more symbols. But,
wnile tne upturned stems, the two E"s and the
simplest notation
usually the slurs employed make easier an analysis of this
measure, yet this notation is less good than that

of the original, since it is more complicated in appearance, and
therefore not so easy to read.
Examples have been given of one voice written as several,
of two voices embodied in one note, and of three voices written
Several voices as two. It is frequently the case that many
written as one
voices are represented by a succession of single
notes. Thousands of cases could be cited in which arpeggiated
(broken) harmonies conceal several voices. One is here given
in the variation from the Andante of Beethoven's F minor
Sonata, Op.< 57, where the notes on the upper staff, at 9 a,

stand for three voices.
EXAMPLE 9
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 57, Andante, Var. 2.
b. Harmonic skeleton of the above.
This attested by Example 9 b, in which the notes rep-

is
resent the same harmony as those at 9 a, but in solid instead

arpeggiated chords. If these two examples be played, this
of is
unmistakably heard.
Yet that an arpeggiated chord does not always represent

more than one voice is shown by the opening measures of the
Bach Prelude, of which the third measure is cited Musical judg-
in Example 5. In the first two measures of this ment necessary
Prelude, shown below, there is but one melodic voice, although
this is constructed more from chords than from the scale. It
is obvious that musical judgment is necessary to discriminate
between an arpeggiated passage representing several voices and
one representing but a single part.
EXAMPLE 10
BACH Well-tempered Clavichord, Prelude 1 from Part II.
(meas. 1)
Not only do and stems all have more than one

notes, rests
meaning, but so, also, have other musical symbols. The dot
placed above or below a note has various mean-
ings. It often calls for some quality of staccato
a shortening of the note above or below which cato mark; to
8"
it is placed. It may demand a heavy, orchestral ^fned'ton"
staccato or a light finger staccato; it may mean
that the detachment of one tone from another should be like
a breath, a sigh, or may call for a pronounced rest between
two tones, such as is usually demanded by the vertical dash
placed above a note. At times the dot calls' for a non-legato
touch; or it may signify that the notes are to be played in
imitation of a violin pizzicato. Often the dot is used, not as
a staccato mark, but as an accent mark or a mark of emphasis,
the tenuto marlc being comparatively a modern sign. Bee-
thoven often uses the dot in this way, and Biilow, in his in-
structive editions, frequently employs it with the same mean-
ing. It may even be used to call the attention of the eye to
the fact that the note under or over which it is placed should
be long sustained witness especially the compositions of
Chopin, Schumann and Liszt.
And there are other characters which may cause confusion.
When the notation is involved, the accent mark (> A) is some-
times used to call attention to a succession of
Meanin s of the
accent mark; of interesting tones in an inner voice, or merely
to a note of long duration, which must be so
attacked as to sound for a sufficiently long time. The
primary use of the slur is to signify that the notes included
within its curve should be played smoothly, connectedly,
and without attack i.e., legato. It is sometimes used to
group together notes of a melody hard to find because inter-

laced with notes of other voices, or because they are found
now on the upper staff, now on the lower, as in the third
measure of Example 2 a, where it is also used to indicate an
alternate use of the hands. And some editors (not composers)
use it as a sign of phrasing.
It has been shown that the duration of a tone is not indi-
cated in the notation so as to make but one interpretation pos-
sible; that a rest may demand cessation of tone,
summary
incompleteness or merely a rest for the finger while the tone con-
tinues, or it may be used to attract attention to
an important succeeding note or passage. It is demonstrated
that the notes of one voice may appear to the inexperienced
player to belong to several voices or to the wrong voice; also,
that several voices may simultaneously employ the same note
or rest, or other sign; that a note with one stem may symbolize
one voice or many voices of differing duration and tone-color;
that a note with two stems may symbolize two or more parts,
and that the upward or downward direction of the stem may
have significance either for the hand or for the tone.
Also, it is
obvious that a note written in small or as a grace-note, may
size,
be long sustained and of great melodic or harmonic value; that
neither the dot, the accent mark nor the slur is limited to a
single significance, and that the use of the pedal is not definitely
indicated.
The question naturally arises: Would it not simplify the

notation, without detracting from the ease of writing, reading
or playing the music, if each sign should always Ma ny meanings
imply but one meaning? But these many signs of each symbol
for the same manner of playing and the numerous meanings
of each character are the outcome of centuries of music-
writing, an art which, like that of music itself, has been
long in process of evolution, and bears the impress of the con-
ventional usage of many different periods, each composer using
the signs with which he is most familiar, and which appeal to
him as simplest, most lucid and most effective to represent his
musical ideas; although the selection is in the main instinctive,
not thought out, for, with a few notable exceptions, composers
concern themselves but with the manner in which they
little
write down Then, too, much of the confusion in

their thoughts.
musical writing comes through a misunderstanding of Italian
musical terms by those who do not speak the language. Even
good musicians have unconsciously used signs incorrectly in
and in time many of these corruptions have
their compositions,
become authoritative usage; hence we now have many correct
interpretations of each symbol. It is best not to trust too much
to signs but rather to look through the sign to its meaning as
determined not only by other signs with which it is combined
but by the composition itself.
Through comparison of different editions of a composition
the pianist becomes able to make his own edition; that is, he
learns to interpret such signs as occur with far
., , , .,, Comparison of
more accuracy than they can possibly be written, editions, inde-
and to see the true meaning of any composition, pendence of
no matter how badly edited it may be; and thus
he attains to a feeling for correct ways of playing correct
ways for there is no one way right and all others wrong, but
many which are correct. The manner of execution depends

much upon the rendering of preceding passages, as well as upon
the pianist's general style. As the study of many compositions
by the same composer gives ideas as to his distinctive character-
istics, it is desirable to study simultaneously several pieces by
the same composer; some in good editions, some in poor editions,

that they may be compared and the judgment exercised as to
the best reading. Therefore, in order thoroughly to understand
any one composition, it is well to study it in the original edition
or in some unannotated edition, as well as in the fine editions
arranged by Liszt, Biilow, Klindworth, Busoni, d' Albert, Mu-
Buonamici and other good musicians. A comparison of
gellini,
texts facilitates the formation of a correct conception of the
meaning of the composer. One may become in a certain sense

a pupil of Liszt or of Biilow by carefully studying the signs and
comments added to the original edition. The drawback to such
instruction is that the writer cannot adapt himself to the special
needs of the pupil. To foster independent j udgment and prevent
a mechanical adoption of his own conception, Biilow forbade the
use of his editions to his own pupils, preferring to correct their
misconceptions and their errors of taste through personal in-
struction.
But even such comparison of editions will not fully give the
pianist an understanding of the compositions he studies. Some-
Knowledge of thing more is necessary to enable him to use the
theory texts understandinglv. Without much hearing
of good music of all kinds, and without a knowledge of harmony,
counterpoint, rhythm and musical form, the pianist may be

unable to discriminate between the notation representing the
sound and that suggesting the execution; he may even be
unconscious of the need to do this.
In either case he must be dependent upon a guide, and re-
main in pupilage so long as his ignorance continues; whereas
The musician- the musician-pianist reads the meaning through
Pianist the notation his correct conception insures correct
;
playing. Add to this a poetic temperament, and he is capable

of artistic interpretation.
CHAPTER III
BOWING-SIGNS
Symbols are arbitrary signs for things that are not arbitrary.
Much of the symbolization of articulation is the same in all
music, whether it be written for voice or for instru- ideal tone
ment. Consequently it is helpful as well as con- symbolized
venient, whendiscussing the interpretation of music written for

one kind of instrument, that both the interpretation and the
mode be described in terms which, when
of execution should
applied in their original, limited

meaning, are suitable only
to music written for some oth^r kind of instrument. Porta-
mento, sotto voce, cantabile, legato, pizzicato, and down-beat are
terms originating in vocal and orchestral music; yet some of
these are frequently seen in the notation of piano music and
others are in common verbal use by pianists. And rightly so;
for since the conceived tone should be more expressive than it is
possible to render the tone actually brought forth by the player,

such vocal and orchestral terms are more potent in the produc-
tion of an ideal musical conception and a consequent fine musical
rendering than matter-of-fact terms which can be taken literally.
Since all great composers are writers of vocal and of orchestral
music, and, therefore, with few exceptions, often feel, think and
write orchestrally for the piano, it is requisite, in order to
understand the meaning of the notation for the piano, to have
some elementary knowledge of the notation for the voice and
for orchestral instruments.
Next in importance to the poetic content of the work, and
essentially a pre-consideration, musical significance. Cor-
is its
rectly to interpret this, it is imperative that the Musicaland

musical significance of each symbol be understood executionai im-
port of symbols
exactly and that this be absolutely differentiated
from its executionai import, which varies with each musical
medium. These two distinctly separate functions should be
realized as absolutely different in kind; and the musical signifi-
23
cance, which is of universal application because of its apper-

taining to ideal musical sound, is the broader. In the light of
this truth, it is apparent that the piano is merely one of the many
mediums of musical expression. Most of its symbols were first
employed in vocal and in orchestral music.
Explanations of the symbols and terminology used in

pianoforte music are in many important works confused by the
writers with the means of execution the touch of
the fingers. All signs and all terminology, such as
slur, dot, dash, accent mark, phrase, punctuation, staccato and
legato, should first be understood in their original and truest
significance, as symbolizing ideal musical effect; after which,
the special manner of producing the effect on each kind of
instrument should also receive -careful consideration, since the
signs not only represent the sound but also instruct as to the
means of execution. The mechanical means of interpretation
used the fingers, wrist, hand, arm, shoulder and foot and the
part they take in setting into action the very complicated
mechanism of the piano, should in no way affect the ideal con-
ception of the sound to be produced.
Faulty instruction similar to the following, clipped from a
recent music journal, appears to be very common: "There are
Legato,
but two ways of playing the piano legato and
staccato staccato hence they should be rightly understood
;
and correctly used. In the legato, the hand is quiet and the
finger moves. In the staccato, the finger is quiet and the hand
moves. ... A slow staccato or legato may also involve arm
action." A study of the playing of distinguished pianists shows
that both staccato and legato are produced by the finger alone,
as well as by the added employment of hand, forearm and
upper arm; the touch depending very largely upon the quality
of tone desired its richness, dryness, delicacy, power, brilliancy,
resonance or purity. But the musical meaning of legato and of

staccato has to do only with tonal connection, disconnection,
attack and lack of attack. The manner of execution is an
upon the instrument em-
entirely different matter, depending
ployed and upon the conception of the performer; and the
interpretation of a great player varies somewhat with each

performance, in response to the inspiration of the moment.
In the Novum Organum, Bacon states the profound and far-
reaching principle that "No one successfully investigates the
nature of anything in itself; the inquiry must be HOW to
enlarged, so as to become more general." It investigate
therefore becomes necessary, in order to understand the signifi-
cance of the symbols found in music written for the piano, that
their significance should be perceived in music written for other
instruments, since a similar musical intention is represented,

regardless of the mechanism of the instrument which may be
the chosen medium
of interpretation.
The necessity of a feeling for orchestral coloring is plainly
evident to him who reads carefully the annotations of eminent
editors of pianoforte music. D' Albert writes in orchestration
his edition of Beethoven's sonatas: "This part of piano music
might well be instrumented; here imitate the tone of the flute,

and four bars further on, that of the reeds." " Imagine the upper
voice in these two bars played by the oboe, and the accompani-
ment performed by the strings." "Imitate the sound of har-
monics on the harp." "Like a brass band, the left hand sub-
duing its part played pizzicato." "Recall the sound of the
trombone." "Quasi clarinetto." Biilow, also, indicates the
desirability of orchestral thinking on the part of the pianist, by
such comments as: "Sound C-F shrill like a trumpet-call here;
at 6 like a drum beat." "Imagine this passage thus orches-
trated: the violins and flutes should take Eb, while D is doubt-
less conceived for the natural trumpet and corresponds perfectly
with its character." "The pianist should study the tone of the
low violoncello strings."
In order to investigate the nature of certain signs used in
the notation of piano music, the inquiry will be enlarged by a
comparison with the notation used in violin music, Berlioz's
and for that purpose a glimpse of the notation used remarks
for the violin, as explained by Berlioz in his treatise, Modern
Instrumentation and Orchestration, is here presented, these
comments and illustrations being pertinent to the discussion.
"The different kinds of bowing are of great importance,

and exercise a singular influence on the sonorousness and the
expression of peculiar features and melodies. They should
therefore be carefully indicated according to the nature of the
idea which is to be conveyed by the following signs:
"For detached notes:
"For slurred notes, two and two:
"For extended slurs:
"For staccato or lightly detached notes, simple or double,

which are to be executed during a single drawing of the bow, by
means of a succession of small j erks advancing as little as possible :
Allegro
"For markedly detached notes, which are to give to the

string all possible sonorousness, by permitting it to vibrate
alone after the bow has vigorously struck it, and which particu-
larly suit pieces of a haughty, grand character, and of moderate
movement :
"The undulating tremolo consists of a not very rapid ut-

terance of two bound notes on the same tone; while the bow
never quits the string. Gluck wrote thus:
Among other things the above citations call attention to

the suggestive fact that the dots in the first staff are to be in-
dicated "for detached notes/' while those in the sixth staff,
identical in appearance and placed over notes of the same value,
are to be indicated "for markedly detached notes, which are to
give to the string all possible sonorousness." Evidently tempo
and other musical requirements enter into the meaning of the
dot.
The slur and its various combinations with the dot, as in-
stanced by Berlioz, are employed also in music written for
wind instruments, where similar effects of con-
nection, disconnection and attack of sound are meaning
*siurand
produced by means of the breath; and they are
frequently met with in piano music, where they
have the same musical purport. The musical purport is exactly
the same, although the mechanical means employed in the exe-
cution of notes written for the piano is neither the breath,
controlled by throat, lip and tongue and applied to a tube of
air, nor the bow, controlled by fingers, wrist and arm, and
applied directly to the strings, but consists of keys controlled
by the fingers, which indirectly, by means of levers, apply
hammers and dampers to the strings, thereby eliciting and
checking tone, and of pedals, the functions of which are dis-
cussed in Chapter XII.
Musical tones are produced by exciting the air to regularly
recurrent vibration, by means of vibrating strings, of vibrating
columns of air or of any other periodically vi- various offices
of the fingers
brating body. All instrumentalists use their
fingers inproducing tone, employing them in different ways.
In playing the harp the fingers directly incite the vibration
of the strings; in playing wind instruments the fingers are
mainly employed to define the pitch of the vibration which

is incited by the breath; and in playing bowed stringed
instruments the fingers of the right hand hold the bow, which
is the vibration-producing medium, while the fingers of the left
hand determine the pitch. But in playing the piano the

fingers do not perform their office nearly so directly, since
there intervene between them and the strings three important
mechanisms, controlled by many lesser ones. Finger pressure
upon a key produces tone from a single string or from two or
three unison strings by means of indirectly moving to action
the damper which lies upon, and the hammer which rests about
one and three-quarters of an inch below the string or strings.
The sensitive finger-tip must control judiciously these various
mechanisms which intervene between it and the strings.
"There are three grades in musical rendition," says Hans
von Biilow. "One can play correctly, beautifully, interestingly.
TO attain to a
Now do not play so interestingly that it ceases to
correct be correct!" "A correct execution is exactly
conception
equivalent to a fine one." "To play correctly,
one must make it impossible for oneself to play incorrectly."
Not only does piano playing become infinitely more delightful
when comparisons are made, mentally, of vocal and orches-
tral with pianoforte music, but by so doing it eventually becomes
impossible to conceive the music incorrectly, which is a long

step toward masterly performance. Close study of the strings,
especially, is productive of a clearer musical insight. Many a
passage, the conception of which may be hazy and uncertain
to the pianist, becomes entirely comprehensible when he pauses
to imagine how it should be rendered, vocally or orchestrally,
how it would be arranged for string quartet and how the
players would bow it.
Sometimes the new application of an old sign, retaining its
primary musical meaning, but not its executional meaning as
Busoni's down- intended only for one kind of instrument, is of
bow mark immense value in clarifying the notation. A
most vivid illustration of this is to be found in All' Italia, the
second piece in Busoni's Elegien^ in which he employs the
violin sign for the down-bow, to indicate the desired attack

i
i,
and the strongly syncopated character of a note. No one of

the usual ways of marking would have made so clear his inten-
tion as to the rendering of the passage.
EXAMPLE 11
BUSONI All' Italia.
*t|r dc|p tf
For the furtherance of his musical

development, as well as
of his pleasure, the interest and attention
of the pianist should
be strongly attracted to the strings, because of
Bowing-signs
all orchestral instruments they are the most im-
portant, possessing, as they do, the most beautiful as well as

the most varied qualities. And also because the means em-
ployed by the singer or by the player upon a wind instrument
to express the music is not apparent to the eye, since the me-
dium which incites the air to vibration is the invisible breath;
but the medium by which the violinist incites the air to vibra-
tion is the visible bow, the down and
up movements of which
are easily seen, even from a distance. For all of these reasons,
if the comprehensive terms
" " " "
bowing-signs or signs of bowing
were adopted by pianists in discussing and in explaining to
students the significance of the slur and of the staccato dot and
dash, it is possible that the general musical understanding
might become much clearer and more intelligent, and the piti-
ful helplessness in regard to the meaning of these signs which
is evinced by some of the questions and answers of teachers in
leading music journals might easily be relieved. The strange-
ness of the term bowing-signs as applied to piano music would
vanish as soon as its breadth of meaning, as determining with
definiteness the musical significance of certain symbols, was
understood; and if seen in written discourse and heard from
the tongue of the teacher, like Busoni's down-bow mark, and
like themore frequently used sotto voce, cantabile, pizzicato, etc.,
it would soon seem a perfectly natural and a very exact term
of expression. The terms bowing-signs and signs of bow-

ing are here used as comprehending the several signs of ar-
ticulation. Experience in teaching pianists has shown the
term "bowing-signs" to be a useful one. By its employment
all confusion of articulation with phrasing is avoided, while
slurs, dots and their combinations lose their terrors for the
student.
The principal bowing-signs are the slur embracing within
its curve two or more notes, the slur embracing within its
The bowing- curve notes of which one or more may be marked
si ns
with a dot, the dot or dash placed over or under
a note or each of a succession of notes, and notes marked by the
absence of slur, dot and dash.
There are relatively few pianists of moderate accomplish-
ment who rightly interpret the meaning of the slur, either used
siur a sign of alone or in combination with the dot, although
legato this i s fundamentally important and quite defi-
nite. This is because, although the slur is used by composers
as a bowing-sign demanding legato and for no other purpose,
this legato sign is sometimes placed over the notes of a motive
or other integral subdivision of a phrase, as is shown in Example
18. But in such cases, also, the slur is used as a sign of legato,
not as an indication of phrasing, which the composer rarely
tries to indicate by special signs. He does not use slurs to define
the limits of phrases and sentences, and it is the bringing out

of the relationships of these that constitutes phrasing in the
truest meaning of the word. The slur, then, is used to group
together notes which are to be rendered legato.
The slur is not used as a punctuation mark by renowned
composers, either of the past or of the present, as can be
seen by consulting the works of Beethoven, xhesiumota
Schumann, Chopin, MacDowell, Debussy mark of phasing
Strauss,
or other preeminent authorities. Any sign employed with
a meaning different from what has long been used and
continues to be used by the best composers is not to be
considered as applying with a newly given signification to
the works of masters who use this sign with the meaning sanc-
tioned by the use of centuries. Even if the change in the
meaning of the sign should be a desirable one, it becomes
authoritative only after its acceptance and employment by
the best composers of the day; and even then it cannot apply
to compositions written before the invention of the newly
given meaning.
As a mark of punctuation the slur is used only in the
extremely valuable and interesting editions of Dr. Hugo Riemann
and in those of his followers. There is not one Riemann s use of ,
important modern composer who has adopted the slur as mark of

Riemann notation. All continue to employ the phrasm &
slur, as did the classic writers, as a sign of legato, not of phrasing.
Legato consists in the smooth, unattacked binding of one

tone to another. Absence of attack is absolutely
,
T . , . Legato defined
necessary to a true legato. In pianoforte playing
each tone is produced by means of a hammer striking upon
strings, and the term legato as applied to this instrument
must therefore mean: Obtain legato as nearly as is possible,
that is, with as little attack and as much connection of tone
as is compatible with the nature of this percussive instrument.
Even staccato tones can be made to sound legato if produced
with a minimum of attack; while the most connected tones
will not sound legato if they are attacked, since the percussion
of the hammer upon the strings makes a quicker and more
vivid impression upon the ear than does the connection of

tones which takes place simultaneously with the blow, and
the effect upon the auditor is that of disconnection of tone.
Therefore, no matter what the intention of the performer, or
what the technical means employed, wherever the binding of
tones ceases to sound perfectly connected and unattacked, there
the legato ceases. Legato is most perfectly produced by the
singer when vocalizing upon a vowel. The most perfect and
the most beautiful instrumental legato is produced by the bowed
string instruments, which are capable of sustaining the legato
indefinitely, and the playing of Kubelik or of the Flonzaley
Quartet teaches the pianist more about legato than can the
playing of any pianist.
Incorrect statements regarding the slur are constantly met
with in books on piano playing and in works on the technic of
incorrect state- the instrument; and errors are perpetuated by
ments in books the reliance of pianists and of teachers upon these
works, and their consequent belief in, and restatement to
pupils of, basic falsities. The following quotations from a music
journal are open to criticism upon this point.
"Our
pianoforte music contains two kinds of slurs; one
kind the composer placed as they appear, the other the en-
Some printed graver put in where he thought they should em-
errors bellish the page. In other words, what I call
conventional slurs, which do not mean punctuation; and real
slurs, which do. The conventional slurs generally cover a
natural rhythmic group, such as a single pulsation, a measure,
a half-measure, more often a measure. These slurs are with-
out value as punctuation. Any slur which stops before the
notes which really complete the idea, is incorrectly placed and
conventional, and not to be regarded except in its permanent
value, which is to adjure a legato of the tones covered by it.
All slursmean this. The following will be helpful: Any
. . .
slurwhich covers a rhythmic group ending with an unaccented

tone is conventional and implies simply legato; and a slur
connecting parts of two different rhythmic groups (pulses,
measures) is punctuational." "Should you go further and ask
me why the slurs are drawn incorrectly in printed music,

I answer that one of the things no fellow can find out."
is
It is an unfortunate misconception of the significance of

"
the slur to think that it is merely a conventional" sign. Im-
agine, for Beethoven, who was so Slurnota
example,
thoughtfully precise and painstaking in his no- "conventional"
Slgn
tation, as being so unintelligent and so foolish as
constantly and throughout his entire life to permit his works
to be published containing thousands of signs which he had not
written in his manuscript and which were absolutely incorrect.
No: the conventional he could not tolerate. He was most
particular that all signs written by him should be printed
exactly as they stood in the manuscript, and he frequently
complains, in his letters to engravers and to copyists, of their
mistakes. He writes to a copyist concerning one of the last
great string-quartets, that in A
minor, Op. 132: "For
Heaven's sake, impress on Kempel to copy everything as it
stands; look carefully over my present corrections and you will
'
find all that you have to say to him. When is put over a
note, is not to take its place, and vice versa. It is not the same
'
thing to write
{{{{{
The slurs to be just as they are placed. It is not synonymous
to write |
. ,
J J JEEr or thus
Such is our will and pleasure! I have passed no less than the
whole forenoon today, and yesterday afternoon, in correcting
these two pieces, and I am actually quite hoarse from stamping
and swearing." Upon another occasion he writes: "I have
looked over the whole of the parts and I trust they must
. . .
be tolerably correct." There is no reason to assume that Bee-

thoven would not have been equally exacting in his demands
in regard to the engraving of his pianoforte works, and it is
inconceivable that the corrections so urgently called for were
not made. Misprints in music are all too frequent, yet slurs
are not more often incorrectly placed than are other signs.
It is quite true, as stated inthe quotation from the music

journal, that most slurs are not punctuational, do not indicate
Legato slurs
the phrasing, but do indicate the legato, and
important ^ used by the composer this is their only office,
except when used in combination with other bowing-signs.
Legato slurs, however, are most important, are usually cor-

rectly placed, and are notin the least conventional nor in any
way to be disregarded, since every sign is of moment, as show-

ing in a general way the intention of the composer.
Attendance, score in hand, at orchestral and chamber
concerts, where playing of the strings may be observed, forces
The violinist'son the auditor the perception that the first note
legato-bowing within a slur bears the attack of the bow, and
hence that this note is by nature more pronounced than
those which follow in the same bow. Consequently, the
beginning of a slur is often placed over a note which for some
reason the composer may wish attacked or accented. Usually,
unless the violinist takes pains to prevent it, the legato is de-
stroyed whenever a down-bow is succeeded by an up-bow, or
an up-bow is succeeded by a down-bow. Sometimes it is the
composer's desire to have the legato extend over several slurred
groups of notes more notes than the player can possibly
take in one bow. Quite often a different notation occurs for
the same effect, the composer placing under one slur more notes
than can be bowed together, with the intention, as before, that
the performer shall make them all sound legato. Not infre-
quently Beethoven employs this manner of indicating his desire
for a legato of many notes. To accomplish such an effect the
musically undesired but mechanically necessary change of

direction in which the strings are bowed must be inaudible
and almost imperceptible. Yet it should be remembered in
such cases, as always, that, in common with other symbols,
slurs are guides only to the general effect desired, and unindi-
cated articular subdivisions are frequently divined and executed
by the performer, even in slurred passages.
Although good pianists think and speak of legato as the

fundamental touch to be acquired, yet they are always conscious
of the attack of the hammer on the strings, it is characteristic

of the instrument, but fine players attain to such skill that at
will the sound of the attack is reduced to a mini- The pianist's
mum. In playing legato, the lifelong difficulty le ato
with which the violinist struggles avoidance of attacked tone
when taking a new bow has its counterpart in the pianist's
struggle to avoid attacking each tone produced. While the
competent pianist greatly reduces the effect of attack, yet he
can never really produce legato tones on his instrument, since
each tone is produced by the striking of a hammer upon the
string instead of by drawing a bow continuously across it. Of
course, the pianist utilizes the characteristic hammer-attack of
the strings for suitable musical purposes.
We are compelled to differ with many of the statements
regarding pianoforte notation made in that standard authority,
Grove's Dictionary, including portions of the Errors in Grove's
"
following quotations from the articles Legato," Dictionary
" " " "
Slur and
Phrasing." Legato consists in the sound of each
note of a phrase being sustained until the next is heard. In sing-
ing a legato passage is vocalized upon a single vowel, on stringed
instruments by a single stroke of the bow, and on the pianoforte
and organ by keeping the finger upon its key until the exact
moment of striking the next. . . . The in a more
slur is now used
restricted sense, to denote a special phrasing effect, in which the
last of the notes within the curved line is shortened and a con-
siderable stress laid on the first." "The signs which govern the
connection or disconnection of the sounds are the dash or dot,
and the curved line indicating legato. The ordinary use of these
signs has already been described, and the due observance of
them constitutes a most essential part of phrasing, but in addi-
tion to this the curved line is used to denote an effect of peculiar
importance, called the Slur. When the curved line is drawn
. . .
over two notes of considerable length, or in slow tempo, it is not

a slur, but merely a sign of legato, and the same if it covers a
group of three or more notes. In this there is no curtailment of
the last note."
Since attack nullifies legato, it is more correct to say that
in piano-playing as in violin-playing, legato consists in the

unattacked connection of two or more successive tones. The
last of the notes comprised within the slur may or
Some corrections ,
, , , . . . .
may not be shortened; and a considerable stress

may may
or not be laid on the first note. This depends upon the
performer's conception of the passage and of the modes of
articulation and pronunciation best adapted to enunciate the
musical syllables each in its due proportion to the whole. There
must be orchestral as well as pianistic conception of legato, also
of the varying degrees and qualities of detachment and of attack,
by whatsoever names these may be designated of non-
legato, semi-staccato, mezzo-staccato, martellato-staccato, spiccato,

pizzicato, rests. All are effects natural to and inherent in bowed
instruments, which often should be imitated in piano-playing,
if a passage be conceived correctly. The term u martellato-
legato" hammered legato although inaccurate, is most useful,
as implying attacked but connected tones; but this is not true
legato. The slur is, of course, a sign and not an "effect." Al-
though occasionally the slur defines the limits of a phrase-sub-
division, it isnot used by composers for that purpose, but as a
sign of legato a bowing-sign, not a sign of punctuation. The
due observance of legato and staccato "constitutes a most
essential part of phrasing," in a way somewhat similar to that
in which the connection and disconnection of syllables might
be considered as constituting a part of phrasing in ordinary
language. A correct articulation is, of course, a rudimentary
necessity. It is to be regretted that the musical examples
given in Grove's Dictionary in the article "Phrasing" are

not of phrasing, but of legato, staccato and accent.
illustrative,
"In pianoforte music, all passages which are without any
mark are played legato, inasmuch as the notes are not detached ;
the curved line is therefore more for the sake of giving a finished
appearance to the passage than from any practical necessity."
Here are several serious and misleading errors. It is obvious
that a "finished appearance" is of no moment to the composer.
His aim is to convey to others certain of his feelings and ideas.
The various signs which he places on paper are intended to
convey his musico-poetic meaning, precisely as written words

convey the meaning of the poet. The expression of his inspira-
tion is the only purpose of the poet, in music as in letters.
Neither writes any sign for the sake of embellishing paper.
Passages of notes marked by the absence of slur, dot and
dash are by no means " always played legato," although phrases
which are songful in character should of course be Absence of slur .
played legato and as much as possible in imitation in legato
of the voice or of a stringed instrument, whether or passage

not the notes be marked by slurs. Yet, as can be seen in many
piano compositions, unslurred notes may demand a legato
rendering. A good example of this is to be found in the original
edition of Beethoven's F minor Sonata, Op. 57. The melody-
notes from the slow movement, given below, are not marked by
slurs, because their cantabile character is so pronounced that it
does not need to be pointed out by the composer. As Biilow
"
remarks, the legato is here a matter of course."
EXAMPLE 12
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 57. Andante.
In violin-music, the bowing-sign, indicated by the absence

of slur, dot and dash, calls for detachment of tone, and each of
the notes so marked
r
1
v
he absence
e ji
is
...
played in a separate bow. Detached notes
or these signs in
.
piano-music does not marked by

,
always call for detachment of tone, as has been absence of slur,

T-> i i f ,1 dot and dash i
seen. But when, as is very often t
the case, such

notes constitute passage-work; or when, as in quartets and in
trios for the piano and strings, identical or similar passages,
perhaps thematic or imitative in character, are found alternately

in the several parts for the stringsand in the part for the piano,
then, naturally, these passages represent an identical or a similar
musical conception, the several manners of execution varying
according to the mechanism of the instrument employed. So
that, in such passages, not only the players on the bowed-instru-
ments, but the pianist, also, plays as the musical context of the
piece may demand and not according to some arbitrary method
devised only for pianists and implying that the essence of piano-
fortemusic differs from that of all other music. "There are
many passages in Beethoven's works," writes Schindler, "which,
though not marked with slurs, require to be played legato. But
this a cultivated taste will instinctively perceive." This state-
ment implies that legato passages are most frequently marked
with slurs, and that unslurred notes are usually to be played
in a detached manner.
As Beethoven was
peculiarly exact and minute in his nota-
tion,musical examples illustrative of detached notes marked by
the absence of dot and dash will be drawn from his pianoforte
sonatas. Annotated by distinguished musicians and pianists
such as Hans von Biilow and Eugen d' Albert, are editions
invaluable in forming the understanding of the developing
pianist.
EXAMPLE 13
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 31, No. 3. Presto.
Of the preceding measures, taken from the last movement

of Beethoven's Sonata in E\>, Op. 31, No. 3, Biilow remarks:
"The prevailing style of touch in this movement having to be
non legato (midway between legato and staccato), fingerings may
be chosen which facilitate the action of the fingers."
INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC.
EXAMPLE 14
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 53, Allegro.
"The undulating figure in sixteenth-notes should be played

by both hands with a distinctly detached touch in the succes-
"
sive fingers, *non legato/
i.e., says the same editor, of these
measures from the C major Sonata, Op. 53.
EXAMPLE 15
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 57. Andante.
.0^7
EXAMPLE 16
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 110. Moderate.
a. Original edition.
b. Bulow edition.
Concerning these measures from the first movement of the

Sonata in A\>, Op. 110, Billow says: "Here also the notes
"
not especially marked must be played non legato and d' Albert
;
in his edition makes the comment: "The editor plays the first
note staccatissimo, the remaining three notes non legato." In
Billow's edition the notation of the articulation is amplified
by additional bowing-signs, as shown by the slurs at b.
Of the following measures from the last movement of the
Sonata, Op. Ill, Billow says: "In the original edition the slur
ends here. It is evident that a close legato is not compatible
with the sforzatos prescribed for the weak beat. On the other
hand, avoid an unesthetic hammering and thumping, to
which end we have added meno legato"
EXAMPLE 17
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 111. Adagio.

meno legato
As has been shown, the different bowings produce either
legato or some degree of attack and of detachment of tones.

When uncertain how to interpret a piano passage, it is often
helpful to think of it as rendered by the orchestra. Concen-
trated, thoughtful listening to this imaginary orchestral effect
meanwhile feeling, hearing and noting the instrumentation
and judging also as to the probable manner of the bowing em-
ployed by the strings usually leads the pianist to a correct
conception of an execution which will interpret the various signs.
Of bowing-slurs in the first movement of the Sonata in A
major, Op. 101, Billow wrote: "The employment of doubled
slurs may confuse some readers; it is to be
Bowing-slurs
explained thus: means that
Q tiiÊT^. G$-F%
are to be played (fcl T 1= in an ordinary legato, and
F%-E in the less com-
connected manner
monly termed portamento and designated by dots under
a slur. But the following mode of notation might also be
chosen:
Q itrT/^1 though it could likewise be misunder-
= =
stood, fm
'
F,
whereas the original mode, derived from
I
:
that of . bowed-instruments, is familiar to all

violinists."
All symbols, whether of speech or of music, are relative,
not absolute in meaning. Most of the details of performance
must be determined by the performer, since the Editorial
hours in elaboration
composer cannot spend his inspired
elaborately editing his works. Besides, even if he were to make
an attempt to put on paper signs for every small detail of
performance, much would necessarily still remain unindicated,

for complete notation of the composer's conception is an im-
possibility. The slur, therefore, is an arbitrary sign used to

indicate, ina general way only, the legato of tones. The next
four examples illustrate this.
EXAMPLE 18
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 54. In tempo d'un Menuetto.
b. Klindworth edition.
c. Bulow edition.
d. d' Albert edition.
The above measures of melody taken from the first move-

ment of the F major Sonata, Op. 54, are shown in four editions.
Klindworth's edition subdivides the notes under the original
long slur into three slurred groups, and places dots over several
of the notes. Billow's edition subdivides the notes differently,
even extending the first short slur of the original over five
notes instead of three, and making three groups of slurred

notes where the original edition has two groups, explaining that,
"while the left hand plays an unbroken legato, the division of
the slur in the highest part will form no unsuitable variant.'
5
D'Albert adds accent marks and lengthens the slur to include

two of the original slurs. These various editorial marks
merely amplify the original notation. All of these editions are
correct, each representing the taste and judgment of an authori-
tative interpreter.
EXAMPLE 19
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 13. Adagio.
b. Billow edition.
Example 19, taken from the slow movement of the C minor

Sonata, Op. 13, gives the original notation at a. At b is given
Billow's notation of the same measures, showing added dots to
notes in the upper staff; additional stems, slurs and dots to
notes in the lower staff; and a different placing of a longer
slur in both staves. Here the articulation is notated in more
detail than in the original edition.
EXAMPLE 20
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 13. Rondo.
m.
b. Bulow edition.
r r r
As seen in Example 20, the. original notation at a is

is
amplified in the Billow edition at b by additional tenuto-marks,

dots and a slur.
EXAMPLE 21
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 10, No. 2. Allegro.
b. Another edition.
The slurs in Example 21 a, from the first movement of

the Sonata in F major, Op. 10, may be elaborated as in the
notation at 6, without violating the meaning of the original
notation. Examples 16, 18, 19, 20,, 21 illustrate at a the
original bowing-signs as written by the composer, to indi-

cate, approximately, his intentions regarding the connection
and disconnection of notes. The more minute articular indi-
cations added by the various editors, each according to his
particular interpretation of the notation, are in no case contra-
dictory to the meaning of the original notation.
"The quintessence of our thoughts," writes Wagner, "is
unconveyable in direct ratio as they gain in depth and compass."
Says Rubinstein: "I hold that music is a Ian- subjective
guage, to be sure of a hieroglyphic tone, interpretation
image, character; one must first have deciphered the hiero-

glyphics; then only, however, he may read all that the com-
poser intends to say, and there remains only the more par-
ticular indication of the meaning the latter is the task of the
interpreter. . . .
Every interpretation, if it ismade by a person
and not a machine, is co ipso subjective. To do justice to the
object (the composition) is the law and duty of every inter-
preter, but of course each one in his own way, that is, sub-
jectively and how is any other imaginable? There are no
two persons of the same character, the same nervous system,
the same physical complexion; even the differences of touch of
the piano players, of the tone of violin and 'cello players, and
the quality of the voice in singers, of the nature of the director,
affect the subjective in interpretation. Should the conception
. . .
of a composition be objective, there could be only one right

one, and all executants would be obliged to accommodate
themselves to it what would an executive artist be in that
case? A monkey? Should it be different in the interpretation
. . .
of music than it is in the art of acting? Is there only one cor-

rect art of Hamlet or King Lear? and must each actor only
hope to ape one Hamlet or one King Lear in order to do justice
to the subject? Ergo, I can only allow of the subjective in the
interpretation of music." Josef Hofmann relates that his mas-
ter often said to him: "Do you know the difference between
piano-playing and piano-reciting? Piano-playing is the move-

ment of the fingers; piano-reciting is the movement of the soul."
CHAPTER IV
PHRASING
The musical intelligence of the pianist is supposed

to be sufficient to perceive, without signs of punctuation,
The intelligent
the limits and the relations of the various
p ianist sentences and phrases. The composer assumes
that the player is able to subdivide the phrase properly
into its integral members and to articulate suitably
the short syllabic tone-groups and single tones of which
they are composed. Only by considerable stretching of
the real meaning of phrasing can the members of a phrase
be considered under that term, since these do not express
a thought, but are merely correctly assembled tone-groups,
each expressing a short and very incomplete portion of
a musical thought. Still, as these subdivisions of a phrase are
commonly treated under phrasing, they will be here so consid-
ered.
As in language,so in music, the phrases composing
a work are made assume their proper relation to each
to
A other and to the whole composition by a

phrase not
necessarily suitable
employment of articulation, accent,
emphasis, shading and coloring, and especially
by sentential and rhetorical pauses. A musical phrase
may be composed of legato tones or of staccato tones or
of any combination of legato and of detached tones. A musical
phrase or a phrase-member is not of necessity articularly

detached from adjoining sentential divisions, since entire
sentences may be sounded either staccato or legato. It is
somewhat the same in speech: consider the staccato utterance
of Mrs. Fiske and the musical legato of the lines delivered
by Mme. Bernhardt.
46
EXAMPLE 22
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 81* Allegro.
This passage from Billow's edition of the Beethoven Sonata,

Op. 8 la, is of interest as authoritatively recording an instance
of what occurs in innumerable instances; namely,
that a phrase or one of its integral subdivisions
dMs^begin*-"
may begin on any note whatsoever, and regardless ning in middle
u ed group
of the signs of bowing. There may be many t7s ^
bowings in a phrase, and a phrase may begin
either with the first slurred note or, as is more common, with
some one which precede or which follow it. As a usual
of those
thing, phrases and their members are not indicated by a slur or

by any other symbol. In the preceding example, where the
slurs, as usual, indicate the bowing, were the subdivisions of
the phrases also indicated by slurs in the notation there would
be another slur cutting across that in the third measure, between
D and the last E\>, and ending over the G in the last measure.
These two slurs, articular and sentential, might perhaps appear
oppositional in meaning, but this would be merely an appear-
ance, not a reality. Actually, they would no more interfere
with each other in function and in application than do the
various accents and stresses of rhythm, of melody and of har-
mony, each of which, governed by its own separate principle,
works in essential agreement with that of the others. Billow
wrote of these measures: "A very slight delay on the first half
of the third measure, i.e., at the close of the fore-phrase, would
not seem inappropriate: for the shorter after-phrase begins,
despite the legato slur, only on the fourth beat."
EXAMPLE 23
BEETHOVEN Concerto in C major.
In Example 23, taken from the first movement of Beetho-

ven's Concerto in C major, the notes have legato slurs, but
this does not conflict with additional mental grouping of the
notes according to their significance, as indicated by the dotted
curves. If this be conceived as a violin passage interpreted by
a great artist, the bowing and the subdivisions of the phrasing
are readily perceived as being different, yet coexistent.
EXAMPLE 24
These few measures from the first movement of the Bee-

thoven Sonata in C major, Op. 2, are illustrative of the legato
bowing-marks of the composer, combined with dotted-curves
which show the mental grouping of the notes according to their
sentential significance, into a phrase and phrase-members.
EXAMPLE 25
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 90. Slow movement.
Example 25, taken from the slow movement of the Sonata

in F, Op. 90, serves both as an illustration of bowing-signs as
used by the composer and of phrasing-signs as indicated by

the editor. All the slurs and dots over the notes are found
in the Beethoven manuscript, and indicate ap- Sentential sub_
proximately the desired connection, disconnection divisions. Articu-

lar subdivisions
and attack of tone. (The additional dotted curves
outline sentences, phrases and motives, but in so doing convey
an almost shockingly mechanical and therefore a false impres-
sion of this wonderful melody.) In a number of cases the slur
defines both the legato of the notes within its curve and an
integral subdivision of a phrase (motive, section, phrase-mem-

ber). But most of the sentential subdivisions include several
small groups of connected notes, of slightly detached notes and
of notes very much detached. The legato notes are indicated
by slurs, and the various degrees of detachment are indicated

by dots over the notes, by notes marked with dots and placed
under a slur, and by single notes marked by the absence of
these signs. The punctuation of the phrases and of the sen-
tences is not marked by the composer with slurs. Very rarely,
indeed, even in elaborately edited publications, is a slur
employed to outline these larger sentential divisions. Never-

theless the used to define the phrases, is a symbol
slur,
very helpful to pupils when added to the score by the pencil

of the teacher, as also are additional editorial pencil-marks
suggestive of the articulation, of the dynamics, of the melody,

of the harmony, of the rhythms, of the tempi and even of the
coloring.
As a result of regarding music as a language, it has been
deduced that each tone of a phrase is not necessarily sustained
significance of until the next tone is heard and that the end of
rests a phrase is not necessarily detached from the
beginning of the next phrase. There are often rests, both of
long and of short duration, within a phrase. Numberless fugal
themes, as well as phrases in music of all kinds, include rests.
In the works of the masters, rests are replete with significance.
"
It was by the agitated breathing in the rests" that Schumann,
on reading over a newly published opus, recognized the com-
poser to be Chopin.
EXAMPLE 26
r^ i
fl-f
* * U ^ 1
Phrasing is in part made evident by punctuation, that is,
by pauses. These may be extremely slight or very prolonged,

and often are not indicated on the printed page.
Punctuation
Previous examples are illustrative of sentential
pauses. Of rhetorical pauses Schindler writes at length in his
"Life of Beethoven." He speaks of Beethoven's "rhetoric,"
of "the cesura which he often employed" and of "the points
of repose, where they are not explicitly marked by the com-
poser." Of the preceding example from the C minor Sonata,

Op. 10, No. 1, he says: "All the written quarter-rests in the
higher part are to be augmented by about two, the interrupted

phrase being thrown off with vehemence. The aim is to in-
crease the suspense." (Measures 5, 8 and 11 are interpolated.)
EXAMPLE 27
Of the cadenza before the coda in the first division of this

movement he says: "This shows the application of the Bee-
thoven precept; that is, points of repose, where Beethoven's
"sura
they are not explicitly marked by the composer,
These are intended, besides, to mark the dividing line of the
coda." The fermatas are added by Schindler.
EXAMPLE 28
BEETHOVEN Symphony in C minor. Allegro.
y
j^j
Wagner says apropos of the rhetorical pause over the
fourth note of the C minor Symphony: "Usually the fermata
of the second bar is left after a slight rest; our Beethoven's
conductors hardly make use of this fermata for fermata
anything else than to fix the attention of their men upon the
attack of the figure in the third bar. In most cases the E\? is
not held any longer than a forte produced with a careless stroke
of thebow will last upon the stringed instruments. Now, sup-
pose the voice of Beethoven were heard from the grave ad-
monishing a conductor: 'Hold my fermata firmly, terribly.
I did not write fermatas in jest, was at a loss how

or because I
to proceed; I indulge in the fullest, the most sustained tone to
express emotions in my Adagio; and I use this full and firm
tone when I want it in a passionate Allegro as a rapturous or
terrible spasm. Then the very life blood of the tone shall be
extracted to the last drop. I arrest the waves of the sea, and
the depths shall* be visible; or I stem the clouds, disperse the
mist, and show the pure ether and the glorious eye of the sun.
For this I put my fermatas, sudden, long-sustained notes, in my'
Allegro. And now look at my clear thematic intention with
the sustained E\? after the three stormy notes, and understand
what I mean to say with other such sustained notes in the
'
sequel/
The Century Dictionary, discussing the punctuation in use
in literary expression, remarks that "long after the use of the
close punctua- present punctuation marks became established
tion. Open they were so indiscriminately employed that, if
punctuation
closely followed, they were often a hindrance rather
than an aid in reading and understanding the text. Close
punctuation, characterized especially by the use of many
commas, was common in English in the eighteenth century,
but open punctuation, characterized by the avoidance of all
pointing not clearly required by the construction, now prevails
in the English language. In some cases, as in certain legal
papers, title-deeds, etc., punctuation is wholly omitted." The
intricate close which Riemann employs in his
punctuation
editions is of great and permanent interest, even should the
reader not agree with his theory that motives never begin upon
a strongly accented part of a measure. A greater number of
the poems in the English language begin upon an unaccented
syllable, but by no means all of them begin in this way.
The principle which has led to the omission of all un-
necessary punctuation marks in symbolized speech is peculiarly
Beethoven's applicableHo symbolized music. In the preceding
declamation
paragraph emphasis is laid upon the fact that
where the exact meaning of the language is of great importance,
punctuation, as on the whole conducive to vital misunder-
standings, is wholly omitted. So is it omitted, as a usual thing,

in the compositions of the great masters of music. We
read
that Beethoven "was prevailed upon, after repeated entreaties,
to make arrangements for the publication of acomplete edition
of all his pianoforte sonatas. His determination to undertake
this task was influenced by the consideration of three important
and, indeed, necessary objects: viz., first, to indicate the poetic
ideas which form the groundwork of many of those sonatas,
thereby facilitating the comprehension of the music, and de-
termining the style of its performance; secondly, to adapt all
his previously published pianoforte compositions to the extended
scale of the pianoforte of six and a half octaves; and thirdly,
to define the nature of musical declamation (elocution)." But
this Beethoven did not do, notwithstanding the fact, indeed
perhaps partly because of the fact, that on the topic of musical
declamation he went beyond the generally received idea of his
"
day, maintaining that poetical and musical declamation are
"
subject to the same rules." Though the poet," he used to say,
"carries on his monologue or dialogue in a certain, continuous
rhythm, yet the elocutionist ('Declamator'),foT the more accurate
elucidation of the sense, must make pauses and interruptions
at places where the poet could not venture to indicate it by
punctuation; and this style of declaiming is equally applicable
to music, and is modified only by the number
of persons
cooperating in the performance of a musical composition."

CHAPTER V
THE ACCIACCATURA-ARPEGGIO
As an acceptable rendition of a musical composition

depends primarily upon a correct interpretation of the musical
...
Symbolized
. notation, the rperformer must be familiar with the
speech. Sym- language of music, both written and audibly
boiized music
interpreted. If the modes adopted to make the
meaning of the music clear to the eye and mind of the reader
be not thoroughly comprehended, the player may be as com-
pletely mystified as to the composer's idea as a foreigner who
for the first time sees words of dissimilar meaning spelled alike,
yard (ground, length)', tale (story, tally); seal

as, for instance,
(stamp, animal) or the differently spelled but similarly sounding
:
words tier and tear; air and heir; sent, cent and scent; or
those words whose part of speech as well as their meaning is
determined by the location of the syllabic accent, as in the
words mvalid and invalid; entrance and entrance. These con-
ditions in symbolized speech are akin to those in symbtylized
music.
The duration of a tone is not indicated with precision and
completeness, for neither itsbeginning nor its ending is always
Neither attack
given with absoluteness in the notation. It has
nor cessation of been demonstrated in a preceding chapter that
tone adequately jf the notes of a passage written for the piano be
removed from the context therelative duration

of the tones represented cannot be definitely indicated by the
musical characters representing them. Neither is attack of tone
shown with positiveness by the symbols alone.
EXAMPLE 29
123456 7 8
54
Here are eight ways of writing the same manner of playing

an arpeggiated chord upon keys so close together that they are
easily grasped simultaneously. Yet some of these signs of
various signs of arpeggio do not show which tones ar P e ggi
should sound first nor in what order the others should come,
nor whether the chord should be arpeggiated gracefully or
stridently. In the case of wide-spread arpeggios written for
one hand there are still other means of expressing the same
mode of playing, some of which are shown below.
EXAMPLE 30
These various forms of notating an arpeggio are in part

the outgrowth of a desire to indicate that, although certain
notes are so distant from each other that the hand of Origin
cannot play them simultaneously, yet the effect acciaccatura-
arpeggl
of a simultaneous attack must be attained as
nearly as possible. Played with this conception of their mean-

ing, these chords may be called acdaccatura-arpeggios. The
word acciaccatura (pronounced at-cha-ka-tu-ra) is derived from
the verb acdaccare (to crush). The acciaccatura as found in
pianoforte music is two kinds: first, the acciaccatura-
of
arpeggio, of which all or some of the tones are more or less

sustained; second, the acciaccatura-grace-note, which repre-
sents an unsustained embellishment tone. A dash across the
stem, as in number four of Example 29, is the original notation
of acciaecatura and is still commonly used across the stem and
flag of grace-notes, which are found in vocal and instrumental
music of all kinds. The acciaccatura-arpeggio, however, is
found only in pianoforte music.
The acciaccatura-arpeggio should sometimes be conceived
even when no symbol is used to indicate the character of the
chord. Often it is used in imitation of an effect possible only
on stringed instruments, upon which, on account of their

construction, a solid chord cannot be produced, and so the
Arpeggio- chord-tones are played rapidly one after another
strappata m one b ow and with an equally sudden and force-
ful quality of attack. An arpeggio thus orchestrally conceived
is an arpeggio-strappata, the word strappata coming from
called
a root meaning to wrench or jerk.
Applied to orchestral music, such a manner of playing is
called strappata d' orchestra, an excellent term' for the vigorous
strappata harmonic onslaught produced when, on the down-
d'orchestra b ea t o f the director, a chord is played fortissimo
and very staccato on the stringed instruments, crushing the
tones together as just described, while the rest of the instru-
ments also play fortissimo, sforzando and staccato. The final
chords of orchestral compositions are often strappata. So are
they frequently in pianoforte compositions. This effect should
be conceived when playing on the pianoforte such crashing
chords as those ending the Beethoven F minor Sonata, Op. 57,
for the performer will then obtain an orchestral quality of tone
which otherwise would be lacking in the rendering.
EXAMPLE 31
BEETHOVEN Sonata in F minor, Op. 57. Allegro.

n
INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC, 57
The Example at 30 a is oftener employed in classic than

in modern music, and of all the forms here shown it is the most
definite in significance; as it bears the original Stroke through
sign of acciaccatura (a dash across the stem), it is stem, and other
s y mbols
undoubtedly an acciaccatura-arpeggio. The no-
tation at d in the same example, although played in the same
way as the three preceding, a, 6, c, indicates not so much the
manner of employing the fingers, as the desired effect a
simultaneousness of attack which, however, as in all the other
cases, from a to i, is impossible on account of the wideness of
the interval to be played. At e the same effect is desired a
simultaneous attack of the tones and a sustaining of the bass-
tone; but the impossibility of prolonging the bass-tone by
means of the fingers is recognized by writing the bass-note of
shorter duration than the other notes of the chord. This is a
guide to the mode of execution as far as the hand is
concerned;
but the tone must be prolonged beyond its apparent value by
means of the pedal.
The connecting vertical slur at / shows clearly to the eye
that a simultaneous attack of the tones wished is for, and the
use of the slur also recognizes the pianistic im-
Vertical slur
possibility of this. The notes are unavoidably
struck one after another, but this should be done so quickly
that all the tones sound as though played on the beat. Both
Chopin and Grieg frequently employ the vertical slur in this
manner. Many instances in point are found in Grieg's own
transcription of his Peer Gynt Suite, from which the following
example is taken.
EXAMPLE 32
. GRIEG Morning Song from Peer Gynt Suite.
(f) (f)
The notation at 30 g is quite indefinite in its significance

and is susceptible of several different interpretations. The
Wavy line wavy line may mean to arpeggiate either grace-
before chord when used
fully or crushingly and, before a chord
of several notes, does not indicate the order in which these
notes are to be played; the upper note or a middle note may
be a note of the melody, which should be struck before the
other notes and be given melodic emphasis. Yet it is also
often used to indicate an acciaccatura, as is shown in
Grieg's own transcription from which the above measures are
taken, for later, upon the return of the theme, the chords in
the left hand are marked with a wavy line in the same manner
as at 30 g, instead of with a vertical slur as at the beginning of
the movement. In the orchestral score there is no change in
the notation upon the return of the theme.
The notation at 30 h is frequently employed by editors
to show students how the acciaccatura should be played; but,/
Explanatory although this may give some idea of the necessary

notation
rapidity of execution, it is perhaps least of all
adapted to give a correct idea of the character of the arpeggio,
for it does not indicate whether the notes are to be played
with grace or vigor, and by the very fact of giving the notes a
definite value it makes an incorrect impression.
The form of arpeggio shown at 30 i is very common in
Small notes in- romantic and modern music. The first number
use of of Schumann's Davidsbundlertdnze contains similar
pedal
arpeggios.
EXAMPLE 33
SCHUMANN Davidsblindlertanze, Op. 6, No. 1.

Here the bass-note G, written of small size, should be sustained

by the pedal until it progresses to C in the next measure.
The acciaccatura bass-note, 30 6, should be more or less
sustained. It is not a grace-note, but is written as one merely
because the fingers cannot remain on the key, Theacciacca-
but must leap to the other notes of the chord, tura-bass-note
leaving the sustaining of the bass-tone to be accomplished by
means of the pedal. Example 30 a is illustrative of this. The
Example 30 c is rendered in the same manner as that at a
and b, and is a notation much used by Schumann, not only
for bass-notes, but for inner voices of the harmony where the
tone must be sustained by the pedal while the fingers jump to
a somewhat distant key.
Schumann's notation in the thirteenth and fifteenth meas-
ures of the Farewell from the Forest Scenes is peculiarly inter-
esting for the reason that the bass-notes are written in two
ways at the beginning of these measures, first as in the acciac-
catura-arpeggio at 30 e, then like that at 30 6. Both examples
are played in the same manner, as somewhat sustained bass-
tones.
EXAMPLE 34
SCHUMANN Forest Scenes, Op. 82, No. 9.
R.ff.
(b)
There is no reason change of notation except that

for this
Schumann may have felt the notation to be inadequate to
first
express his conception, and so have tried another Schumann's

mode of writing the next time he wished to indi- <iandary
cate a necessary release of the key by the finger. However,
although the key be released, the tone produced through strik-
ing the key should be somewhat sustained by the pedal.
Neither the tone of the bass-note at e nor of that at b should be
short, for neither isan embellishing tone; each is a bass-tone, the

corresponding key of which cannot be held down by the fingers.
Of this difficulty in finding adequate notation for a somewhat
similar passage in the Carnival, Schumann writes in a letter to
Moscheles: "You must pardon many things in my manner of
setting down the notes. I really did not know how to write
the three A's above each other.
produces a different effect; the high A's should only create a

faint lingering echo, and so I could not think of any way to
write it but
Examples of these different ways of notating an acciaccatura

bass-note are found in many
pianoforte compositions. Schu-
mann's Kreisleriana contains the following passage illustrative
of the various modes of writing the acciaccatura-arpeggio as
shown in 30 b, g, and i\ in 33 i, and in the example below.
Each of the bass-notes, F, F, b, D, E\>, F, should be sus-
tained by means of the pedal until it progresses to the next
bass-note, but in such a manner as not to blur the melody.
EXAMPLE 35
SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, Op. 16, No. 6.
(b)
Not only may the bass note be written as grace-note, but so

may the notes of any other voice, as at a in the following pas-
sage from Schumann's Novelette, in A major. The Inner chord _
small note, E, which easily might be misconceived tone written as
s 06 - 11046
as a note embellishing the melody, represents a
chord belonging to the lowest voice played by the right hand,
EXAMPLE 36
SCHUMANN Novelette, in D Major, Op. 21, No. 8.
b. Notes of upper staff as they sound.
and should be sustained as such until it moves to F, the next

tone of the same voice, as shown in the edited example at 6,
in which the quarter-rest is found where it rightfully belongs,
in the middle voice, and the duration of the small note is
represented as it actually sounds sustained, not short.
In Chopin's Berceuse, many sustained melody notes in measures
15-18 are written as grace-notes.
EXAMPLE 37
BEETHOVEN Sonata, in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2. Allegro.
a. Kohler edition.
JT1X3 A
b. Klindworth edition.
Example 37, taken from the development section of the

first movement of Beethoven's Sonata, in A
major, Op. 2, No. 2,
is illustrative of two ways of writing an arpeggiated interval.
Kohler's edition of this sonata gives the acciaccaturas E, F, A,

and Bb in the middle voice as small-sized thirty-second notes,
as at a; Klindworth's edition gives them in notes of the usual
size placed immediately below the notes to which they are
slurred (as in Example 30 / and in Example 32) In performance .
both ways of writing are interpreted the same, the middle and
lowest voices being strict imitations of the melody in the upper
voice.
CHAPTER VI
THE ACCIACCATURA-GRACE-NOTE AND OTHER

EMBELLISHMENTS
Among the preceding notational difficulties is that of deter-

mining the musical significance of the small note; considerable
experience is necessary in order to be able in-
stantly to determine its character and duration, arpeggio used
Thus far there have been under consideration only onl y in pf n -
sustained acciaccatura chord-tones, and these,
whether written as small notes or as large ones, are peculiar to
pianoforte music.
The second kind of acciaccatura is common to music of all
kinds, and belongs to the class of embellishments. An acciac-
catura-grace-note differs from a note of an ac- Acciaccatura.
ciaccatura-arpeggio in duration, but not in grace-note used
l
character: the one is a sustained chord-tone, the
other an unsustained ornamenting note played with more or
less grace, hence its name. As a dash across the stem is the
original notation of acciaccatura, soan acciaccatura-grace-note
iscorrectly written as a small eighth-note with a dash across
stem and flag. The Italians call grace-notes note senza valore
notes without value. In classic music, a grace-note is usually
struck with all the notes of the chord, excepting the note to
which it is slurred and which it embellishes; is played very
rapidly and is released when it is connected to its succeeding
principal note. Both the
principal note and its grace should
come on the beat, so as to maintain the nature of acciacca-
tura, as explained when discussing acciaccatura-arpeggio, for
as the acciaccatura-grace-note is without value of its own, it
cannot, of course, appropriate to itselfappreciable duration
belonging to the note following it. Therefore the commonly
used expression, "A grace-note steals time from the note to
which it is slurred," is incorrect. Of the thousands of instances
63
which could be cited, the suffices to show the

one given below
acciaccatura-grace-note in the two ways in which it occurs.
38 a shows the grace-note J5b, which does not belong to the
harmony with which it is struck; at c is shown the grace-note
C, which is part of the chord with which it is struck. It is
easily seen that if this C be unsustained it is an acciaccatura-
grace-note;if it be sustained, the chord of which it forms part
isan acciaccatura-arpeggio. The grace-note in romantic and

modern music is often played before the chord.
EXAMPLE 38
SCHUBERT Moments Musicals, Op. 94, No. 3.
Notwithstanding the fact that a chord with a line through

its stem was originally meant as an acciaccatura-arpeggio, yet
Several mean- those musicians are not necessarily wrong who
interpret the line across the note E in Example
ings of one sign
39 a to be a sign for an acciaccatura-grace-note, as at j; or

who would make of the E an inverted mordent, as at k, I, m, n;
for, owing to the prevailing inaccurate use of musical terms
and symbols, some composers have employed the dash with
these meanings. Besides, much confusion of notation has come
about through the mistakes of copyists. Beethoven often
complains in letters to his friends and to his publishers that
his newly published compositions are "full of blunders and
errata. They swarm in them like fish in water, that is, to
infinity."
EXAMPLE 39
Whenever a mordent is employed the significance of its

name, which means biting, should be borne in mind. The
ornamenting grace-notes of this embellishment
should often be played bitingly and as fast as
possible, although at times they are played with an easy grace.
It is the difficulty of notating the effect of several tones sound-
ing on the beat, yet not struck together, that causes editors to
indicate the performance of the mordent in different ways
when they write it out in small notes. The best editors usually
place the accent-mark on the first note, as at 39 I, which, on
the whole, most nearly suggests the correct performances.
Others write it over the third note, as at ra; and sometimes
accent-marks are placed over both of these notes as at n;
yet each of these notations has the same meaning, and is
an attempt, necessarily inadequate, to indicate the correct
manner of performance, all the tones sounding on the
beat, yet not attacked together. The Grieg melody at 32 o
gives an illustration of an inverted mordent written out in
small notes.
Sometimes grace-notes, few or many, succeed each other
as in Examples 32 p, 38 6, 39, 40, 41 and 44. This class of em-
bellishment, sometimes called a slide, is most Portamento di
often written in small notes with connected tails. voce
To render it should be conceived vocally, not

properly, it
an attempt to produce, as nearly

pianistically, for it represents
as the instrument will permit, the effect known as portamento
di voce the carrying of the voice from one tone to another,
through the minutest, unwritable, intervening fractions of
tones. This is an effect most artistic when properly employed
by great singers, Sembrich is past-master of the art, but

usually should be avoided by students, who often slur their
tones because they have not the skill to sing at once, and with
pure intonation, the printed notes. Although occasionally
indicated in vocal music by the words portamento di voce
or alluded to in speech by the terms portando la voce or portare
la voce, these words are rarely written down, and the portamento,
as usually employed, is a poetic license taken by the artist
at his own The violinist produces a similar effect by

discretion.
rapidly slipping the finger along a string, while producing the

tone with the bow, thus delicately passing through all the
nuances of intermediate tones.
Examples of the slide the pianistic imitation of the
The slide. portamento are very numerous in Chopin's
Pianistic porta-
music, and emphasize and make clear a part
of his meaning when he said: "You must sing
if you wish to play."
EXAMPLE 40
CHOPIN Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2.
If this passage were sung, probably the small notes would

not sound distinct in pitch, but would merely form a connect-
ing link of indefinite, unnamable tones, upon which the voice
would smoothly glide from E$ to A%. In playing this slide
upon the pianoforte it should be conceived vocally, and the
small notes played with a light, flexible finger-touch. The
pedal should be used while playing these notes to connect the
principal tones, the more sonorous E% and A%, without per-
ceptibly blurring the run. Even the very long, pianistic em-
bellishing runs such as occur so often in Chopin's music should
each be conceived as ornamenting a single tone, or serving as
a gossamer link from one melody tone to another for instance,
in the run from the B\> Variations in Example 41, where the
embellishing notes, originally written of the same size as the

principal note, are written by the editor in small notes, as an
assistance to the eye in quickly showing the relative expressive-
ness of the tones. The run should be played with the utmost
and hand, using pure finger-touch pianis-
elasticity of fingers
simo, and should sound glissando-like in character.
EXAMPLE 41
CHOPIN Variations, in Bb, Op. 12,
The chord-note Ab may be played with some weight

from the forearm and, after a light turn, may be played again
with some stress but with a different quality from the first
Ab. It should be sustained by means of the pedal until the
chord-note Db in the next measure is struck, more softly than
the ^4b, but with more tone than the notes of the run. Other
Chopin runs used as embellishments are given in Examples 96 6,
98, 99 and 103. Such passages remind one of Leigh Hunt's
description of the playing of Paganini :
"And ever and anon o'er these he'd throw

Jets of small notes like pearl, . . .
One chord affecting all."
But romantic music has no monopoly of embellishing

runs, for they are quite common in classic music, also. The
fifteenth measure in the E major Adagio from the Embellishing
runs
Haydn Sonata, in E\> contains a run almost iden-
tical with that just given in Example 41, although in another
key, and the runs in measures 21 and 23 are similar in char-
acter. These and other passages are so differently notated in
the various editions, that a sample passage is here given.
The upper staff is copied from the Peters edition, the lower
from the Litolff edition.
EXAMPLE 42
HAYDN Adagio from Eb Major Sonata.
At a the first note is written as a quarter-note, at b this is

shown as an eighth-note; at a the chromatic runs are given in
sixteenth-notes, at b these same notes are written as sixty-
fourth notes; at a the D
below the staff is written as an eighth-
note, at b this same note appears as an accented sixty-fourth
note; at a certain notes have above them the staccato dash,
at b these notes have dots above them. Yet both the notations
in the above example have exactly the same significance, the
upper one indicating the character of the notes, senza valore;

the lower attempting to give them an approximate value.
Mozart's music is full of such embellishing passages, an
instance of which, taken from the eighteenth measure of the
Rondo, in A minor, is given in Example 43, where all the thirty-
second notes constitute a delicate flourish connecting A and G
(as suggested by the connecting slur) .
EXAMPLE 43
MOZART Rondo, in A minor.
Embellishments were first introduced in clavier playing as

a means of prolonging certain tones of the clavichord and harp-
sichord, which instruments had little power of sustaining tone.

The embellishment notes were given their place in the
text inconspicuously; small notes were employed -
Ori nof
as well as symbols representing the trill, the turn pianistic embei-
Ushments
and many embellishments now no longer used.
This we music of Bach, Handel, Scar-
see* exemplified in the
latti, Rameau, Couperin and other composers of the latter

part of the seventeenth and first part of the eighteenth
century. The sonority of the pianoforte of today does away
with the original necessity for these ornaments, and many of
them may be omitted to the advantage of the composition
and to a greater preservation of the composer's meaning than
if the notation be slavishly adhered to, although a proper use
of embellishments often adds greatly to the beauty of a com-

position. Ph. E. Bach, in his treatise on The Art of Playing
the Clavier, in which he devotes nine chapters to embellish-
ments, gives warning that although embellishments "serve to
connect the tones, to enliven them, and when necessary give
'
them special emphasis/ yet their too frequent use must be
avoided in order that they may not resemble the ornaments
with which the finest building may be overladen or the spices
with which the best dish may be spoiled, and he adds that their
use is often abused, "for many players imagine that the whole
grace and beauty of clavier playing consists in making a turn
"
every moment." During the last few years my chief endeavor
has been to play the clavier, in spite of its deficiency in sus-
taining sound, as much as possible in a singing manner, and to
compose for it accordingly. This is. by no means an easy task
if we desire not to leave the ear empty, nor to disturb the sim-
plicity of the noble cantabile with too much noise."

As an embellishment is used to ornament a single tone,
the first necessity is to ascertain which is the embellished and
which are the embellishing tones. All ornament- Vocal concep_
ing tones should be sung to the same syllable as tion of em-
l
their principal tone, as was the habit in the time
of the old masters, when singers were musicians who made
their art a life-study, and consequently had no difficulty in
differentiating the melody from its embellishments. Of course,

the fact that ornamenting notes were then written of a smaller
size than the main note made it easier than in our notation of
today to understand which was the principal note and which were
the embellishing notes. This is one reason why the use of the
small note still survives in our notation. It is best to think of
all beautifying tones trills, turns, etc. as sung in this way,
to the syllable of the tone which they ornament.
EXAMPLE 44
The notes of a trill, like those of all other

ornaments, are
note senza valore. When playing a trill it is essential to know
Make-up and
which is the chord-tone, the only one having
rendering of harmonic and rhythmic value, what is the prep-
aration of the trill, and what the ending of it.
The hearer should always be more conscious of the principal
chord-tone, the one upon which the trill is made, than of the
preceding small note (appoggiatura) if there be one. If the trill
end with a turn, these final notes should be played with a dif-
ferent touch, more slowly and expressively than the shake in
the middle part of the trill, which should be played rapidly
and lightly with flexible fingers; all embellishing tones must
be delicate, or they have an effect the opposite of ornamenta-
tion. Trills are notated in a great many ways. Sometimes the
notes are written out in full merely to make the trill easy for
the student; but rightly played, the notes of a trill should not
be measured. The brilliancy of a trill depends not so much
upon its rapidity as upon its evenness and the subdivision of
its notes. One means of attaining these is to begin the trill and
to finish the turn ending the trill with different fingers from those
used for the other notes, as 323, 1323232323, 14323, or some
other change of fingering. The trill should be played in such a
way as to bring into prominence the principal chord-tone, a,
which is often the resolving tone of a discord, the note of reso
lution, b, being played more softly, as is usually the case with

a discord and its resolution. For this reason, in order not to
give undue prominence to the appoggiatura when the trill
begins with one, it is sometimes better to play in this manner:
EXAMPLE 45
o b)
n
I mm ri rim -UJ-O-l
beginning slowly, accelerating in the middle and retarding

toward the end. First accent the appoggiatura, c, and after a
slightshake of a few notes begin another group of notes, this
time accenting the chord-tone, d, and subordinating the appog-
giatura so as to make of it a changing note. In such a place a
singer sometimes swiftly changes the accent from C to B, aid-
ing the tone-production by shaking her head or even her whole
body at the same time. The closing notes of the turn, e, should
never be hurried, but should be played more slowly and express-
ively and in such a way as to make satisfactory the resolution
of B, the embellished tone, to C, of the next chord.
EXAMPLE 46
BACH Sinfonia from Partita, in C Minor.
ft
When a trill is indicated over a note which is on the same

degree as the note last played the embellishment should not
be begun with the principal note, but with an Beginning of
The Appoggia- ttm
appoggiatura (see Chapter VII,
tura), even if not so indicated. Many instances of this kind
are to be found in various editions of Bach's music, as in the
Sinfonia of his C minor Partita, where the trill, notated as at a,
should be played as at 6.
EXAMPLE 47
BEETHOVEN Concerto, in Eb.
L f fff iff.
i I
i I
' '
I I
Neither should a trill be finished La such a way as to an-

ticipate the note following it. The proper manner of ending a
trill a debated question. Once
is a number of
The turn . . . . , , ,
, . .
representative musicians were asked their opinion

about this, and their answers varied greatly. Reinecke, the
conservative, said that he could never end a trill without a
turn. Billow, who though not naturally bold became so
through constant association with the greatest musical genius
of his day, said that he believed in ending without a turn in
passages where there is a succession of trills, as in the Raff

Concerto and in Beethoven's Fifth Concerto. Said Rubinstein:
"There are not today two musicians of the same opinion in
regard to the rendering of embellishments."
CHAPTER VII
THE APPOGGIATURA
Asmall note, when part of an acciaccatura-arpeggio, rep-

resents a sustained tone of the melody, of the bass or of an
inner voice; as acciaccatura-grace-note, the small origin of
note represents an unsustained embellishment small notes
tone. There is still another way in which the small note is
employed, especially in old editions; it may be an appoggia-
tura. Small notes are a relic of the days when our modern
notation was in process of making; even as late as the close
of the sixteenth century unprepared discords were rare and
were written in small notes, as though the composer scarcely
dared to give them place in the main text. That great genius
Monteverde, by his bold use of unprepared sevenths, had to
endure opposition from the musicians of his period, much
as did Wagner for his use of distantly related keys and un-
cadenced, continuous melody, a generation ago. Nowadays
thisemployment of small notes has largely passed away; other-
wise we should have more small notes than large ones in our
music.
Through mistakes of copyists and engravers, the appog-
giatura, when written as a small note, has become confused

with the acciaccatura. This is a great error, as Mistakes of
the two are as dissimilar as possible in character, copyists
True, they look somewhat alike when written of small size
and slurred to a following note, but the resemblance is one of
notation merely. The two terms became confused when the
Renaissance carried Italian music and its terminology to France,
Germany and England, where the Italian language was not
thoroughly understood.
An appoggiatura is a weighted tone, foreign to the chord
with which it is struck, and leans upon a succeeding weaker
73
tone belonging to that chord. As the appoggiatura has defi-

nite duration and dynamically of more importance than
is
The appoggiatura
^ e tone upon which it leans, it is of course
a weighted not an embellishment, for this has no durational
dissonance
value and is played more lightly than the tone
to which forms but a beautifying adjunct.
it
That this may be made clear to one who has not studied
harmony, a simple explanation is given. Two tones which,
Consonance when sounded simultaneously, do not incline
Dissonance towards connection with other intervals, but
whose relationship is satisfactory and independent, constitute
a consonance. All the consonances which can be built up from

the note C are here given.
EXAMPLE 48
Consonances.
h)
b) o d) e) f) g)
. M î^f
These intervals are called perfect unison, a; major and mi-
nor third, 6, c; perfect fourth, d; perfect fifth, e; major and
minor sixth, /, g; and perfect octave, h. All other intervals
which can be built upon C are dissonances: these are: all
seconds, sevenths and ninths and all diminished and aug-
mented intervals. Similar consonant and dissonant intervals
may be made upon any note. Because of their nature to move,
dissonances are more provocative of emotion than are the
restful consonances to which they progress. A dissonance is
normally followed (either immediately or ultimately) by a tone
a diatonic half-step (minor second) or a diatonic whole-step
(major second) below or above it. This progression of a dis-
sonance to a following tone is called its resolution. "Why
trouble to know what a dissonance is?" said the witty Rossini;
"it is always a second."
EXAMPLE 49
Suspension.
b)
lf the nature of a dissonance be thoroughly understood,

v
the definition of a suspension is easily grasped. A suspension

(Example 49 b) is a tone foreign to the harmony
which has been prolonged from a tone of a pre-
ceding chord, a. This tone, before becoming a suspension, and
while sounding in the preceding chord, is called the prepara-
tion of a suspension, because the harshness of the coming dis-
cord is lessened by accustoming the ear to the sound of the
tone which is to become dissonant. In order to effect this, the
preparation, a, should be at least as long as the suspension, b.
A suspension, if it resolves regularly, moves, like every other
dissonance, a diatonic degree to the tone of resolution the
delayed chord-tone, c- the entry of which has been delayed
by the suspension. The suspension occurs upon a more accented
part of the measure than its resolution.
EXAMPLE 50
Appoggiaturas.
An appoggiatura is a suspension, prepared or unprepared,

and may be of the same duration, a, b, e, /; of longer duration,
c; or of shorter duration, d, than the chord-note The

to which it resolves. An appoggiatura is usu- appoggiatura
ally unprepared, a, b, c, d, and is therefore more insistently

dissonant than a suspension. If prepared, the appoggiatura is
distinguished from a suspension by the fact that it is struck

again with the chord. The derivation of the term is from the
Italian appoggiare, meaning to lean against. Although most
frequently but one degree removed from the tone upon which
it leans, an appoggiatura may be distant from it any interval
(/), omitting entirely the proper tone of resolution, and re-
solving irregularly, as is sometimes the case in suspensions.
EXAMPLE 51
a. Suspension.
b. Prepared appoggiatura.
f)
Example 51 a shows an irregular resolution of a suspended

E\> skipping to Ab; at 6 the Eb, struck with the chord in which
The prepared it is dissonant, becomes an appoggiatura. Re-
appoggiatura
garding the rendering of appoggiaturas Ph.
Emanuel Bach says: "One can observe that dissonances are
generally played stronger and consonances weaker, because
the former emphatically fire the passions and the latter soothe
them. All appoggiaturas are to be struck more forcibly than
the following note." And Sir Francis Bacon refers to "the
falling of a discord to a concord, which maketh great sweetness
in music."
The appoggiatura should not be termed an embellishment,
although unfortunately this is an accepted classification in
The
mos ^ standard dictionaries of music. It is no
appoggiatura
not an more an embellishment than is a suspension, but
embellishment
hag been so classed thoughtlessly because.it is
it
sometimes written as a small note, and because the word

" "
appoggiatura is confused with the word acciaccatura but :
who thinks of the appoggiatura as an embellishment when it

is written as a note of usual size? Yet the manner of notation
has, of course, no effect on the character of a musical thought,
but is only a more or less successful effort to reproduce this on
paper sufficiently well for the executant to recognize the com-
poser's meaning. The acciaccatura may be either dissonant or
consonant to the chord with which it sounds; the appoggia-
tura is always dissonant.
The appoggiatura when unprepared is usually either a
half-step or a whole-step above or below the tone to which it

resolves, and is correctly written either of the Notation of the
same note or as a note of smaller appoggiatura
size as this
size. In modern music the appoggiatura is always written as
a note of ordinary size. Many recent editions of the classics,
also, make no difference between the notation of an appoggia-
tura and that of any other note. In older editions, while many
appoggiaturas are written as notes of ordinary size, others are
in the form of small notes, their value in as far as is indi-
cated by the black or by the hollow head, and by the tails
(hooks, flags) on their stems varying from a half-note to a

sixty-fourth-note. Sometimes, though rarely, these appoggia-
turas are small dotted-notes. The more common forms in
which the small-note appoggiatura is found are the quarter-
note, the eighth-note, the sixteenth-note and the thirty-second-
note.
In regard to the rendering of the appoggiatura there are
several generally accepted rules which often can be followed:
(1) Usually, though not invariably, the duration Rendering of the
of small-note appoggiaturas is indicated in the appoggiatura
same manner as is the duration of a note of ordinary size, by
the number of its hooks and its open or black head. (2) The
appoggiatura takes half of the value of the tone to which it
resolves, if the latter is naturally divisible into two equal parts.
(3) An appoggiatura placed before a dotted-note takes two-
thirds of its value. There are very many exceptions to these
rules, which are by no means infallible guides; for the manner
of performance of an appoggiatura is largely dependent upon
the context. Besides, the rules often conflict with one another.
Illustrative of these rules, however, are the small-note appoggia-
turas in the first staff in the example below, a, which are played
as shown in the second staff, b. The first note of each of these
twelve illustrations an unprepared suspension
is in other
words, is an appoggiatura which should be played with stress.
EXAMPLE 52
a. Appoggiaturas written in wall notes.
b. Appoggiaturas written in notes of usual size.
The confusion of the words " acciaccatura " and " appoggia-
tura" has given rise to the common mistake of terming the
"
Errors in acciaccatura-grace-note a short appoggiatura,"
dictionaries
an(j the appoggiatura itself a "long appoggia-
tura." It appears to the writer that the usual definitions and
explanations of appoggiatura and acciaccatura are manifestly

incorrect, in part, though they have the authority of highly
accredited reference books. It is strange that even dictionaries
by eminent and excellent standard authorities, such as Grove,
Elson, Mathews and Liebling, Barrett and Stainer, Hughes,
and many others, after correctly defining the appoggiatura and
illustrating with suitable examples, yet, following long-estab-
lished and careless precedents, give sanction to errors, examples
of which we quote, italicizing certain words with the object of
calling attention to the most glaring mistakes and contradic-

tions. Riemann's Dictionary calls the acciaccatura "an obso-

leteornament in organ and pianoforte music." Articles in Grove's
Dictionary say of the acciaccatura that it is "a now nearly
obsolete description of ornament, available only on keyed in-
struments, in which an essential note of a melody is struck at

the same moment with the note immediately below it, the
latterbeing instantly released, and the principal note sustained
alone. It is generally indicated by a small note with an oblique
stroke across the stem, or when used in chords by a line across
the chord itself. Its use now is confined to the organ, where it
isof great service in giving the effect of an accent, or sforzando,
to either single notes or chords. The term acciaccatura is
' '
now very generally applied to another closely allied form of

ornament, the short appoggiatura." Of the appoggiatura this
dictionary says that it is "One of the most important of
melodic ornaments, much used in both vocal and instrumental
compositions. . . . The short appoggiatura may belong to the
same harmony as the principal note, or it may be one degree
above or below it. ... With regard to its length, the appoggia-
tura is of two kinds, long and short; the long appoggiatura
bears a fixed relation to the length of the principal note, as
will be seen presently, but the short one is performed so quickly
that the abbreviation of the following note is scarcely per-
ceptible."
From Elson's Dictionary we quote the following: "The
principal embellishments are the appoggiatura, the turn and the
shake." He speaks of "the short grace-note, or acciaccatura or
short appoggiatura as it is variously called," and remarks that
remember that the long grace-note (appoggia-
"it will be well to
tura) is yearning and tender in effect, while the short grace-
note is bright and crisp, with the single exception of sometimes
imitating a sob in mournful or plaintive music." The appog-
giatura is defined as "leaning-note; grace-note, note of embel-
lishment. ... It is one of the most charming embellishments
of song and of instrumental music. The cause of writing so
long and accented a note as a grace-note lies in the fact that
the appoggiatura is almost always extraneous to the melody
and to the harmony. . The appoggiatura is sometimes called

. .
the long grace-note. Some dictionaries (Grove and others) call

l '
the short grace-note appoggiatura also;for the use of the
short appoggiatura see Acciaccatura. Confusion can here be
avoided by using the English equivalents Long grace-note and
Short grace-note."
c
Mathews and Liebling's Dictionary says that the acciacca-
tura is "a species of arpeggio; an accessory note placed before
the principal note. Practically about the same as an appoggia-

tura." The appoggiatura it calls "leaning note, note of em-
bellishment. An accessory note, or grace-note, situated one degree
from the principal tone." Hughes remarks that the acciacca-
turais "a short appoggiatura, usually a grace-note, struck at the
same time with its principal, but instantly released." Barrett

and Stainer's and other well-known dictionaries also make
statements similar to the foregoing.
In reference to these quotations but few words of comment
are necessary. The appoggiatura is not a melodic ornament
or embellishment, and is not closely allied, nor at all allied, to
the acciaccatura.Far from being an ornament, the appoggia-
tura the principal tone, which is susceptible of orna-
itself is
mentation by other lighter tones. It never belongs to the

same harmony with which it is sounded, but is always dissonant.
It is oftenestbut one degree from its tone of resolution but may

be distant from it. The appoggiatura cannot be of two kinds
the character is always similar to that of a suspension. A leaning
note is'the opposite of a grace-note. The appoggiatura is always
extraneous to the harmony, and it is a note of melody in some
part, very often that of themain melody. Much confusion is
caused by terming notes of two such opposed characteristics
as the appoggiatura and the acciaccatura by the similar names
of Long grace-note and Short grace-note, since the appoggiatura
isnever a grace-note. The acciaccatura is not obsolete, and is
not about the same as an appoggiatura, but very different.
The appoggiatura is not an accessory note situated one degree
from the principal note, but is itself the principal note, requir-
ing resolution.
EXAMPLE 53
MOZART Rondo, in D major.

,b)
in., r r?[
EXAMPLE 55
MOZART Andante from C Major Sonata.
a. Appoggiaturas incorrectly notated
v
L J -[
6. 77ie above correctly notated in two ways.
Certain passages in the slow movement from the same

sonata are flagrantly wrong in notation. To one who plays
incorrect with appreciative taste it is evident that although
notation the first C in Example 55 is a grace-note, the other
three, although also written as acciaccaturas, are appoggia-
turas and should be written either as at b or as at c, and should
be uttered expressively.
EXAMPLE 56
BACH Loure from French Suite,
a. Notation.
b. Execution.
Thepreservation of the imitations in the different voices

in Example 56 a necessitates the rendering of the appoggia-
turas as at 6, although this breaks Rule 3, given on page
77. This shows that definite rules cannot be laid down,
and when attempt is made to do so it is found that the ex-
ceptions are almost as numerous as the examples which follow
the rule. There are many instances where the meaning of the
notation can only be decided upon by a musician of experience;
moreover, even musicians are not always agreed, as can be
seen by comparing some of the many editions of almost any
Bach composition.
EXAMPLE 57
BACH Sarabande from G major Partita.
a. Notation.
The notation of the Sarabande in the G major Partita con-

tains many small-note appoggiaturas (which in some editions
are written as acciaccaturas) In Example 57 a Dotted _ note
.
pre .
the three small eighth-note appoggiaturas are ceded by smaii-
note a PP iatura
especially interesting, since, as shown in the
notation of the rendering, 6, the eighth-notes G and E represent
quarter-notes (notes twice the apparent value as judged from
the tails), and the eighth-note A, which is struck with them,
represents but half their duration an eighth, as indicated by

its tail.
EXAMPLE 58
HAYDN Sonata, in C# minor.
a. Notation.
b. Execution.
In the two preceding measures taken from a Haydn sonata

we find several appoggiaturas. At a are a small-note C#
written as an eighth-note and an E% written as a small six-
teenth-note, also D# and Eft written of the same size as the E
and the F# to which they resolve. At b these are notated
as they are played. In the lower staff at a is an appog-
giatura written as a small-note eighth, which sounds well
and is correctly played either as an eighth-note (according to
Rule 1) or as a quarter-note (according to Rule 2).
EXAMPLE 59
SCHUMANN Bird as Prophet, Op. 82, No. 7.
In some instances a whole composition is founded upon

appoggiaturas and their resolutions. Schumann makes such
use of appoggiaturas in his Bird as Prophet in the
Forest Scenes. Throughout this piece the appog-
giatura plays an important part, as may be seen Daturas and

11 , ..
,
, .. their resolutions
, , , . ,
from the above example, where the dotted eighth-

note at a is in each case an appoggiatura, resolving to the
following thirty-second-note at b.
EXAMPLE 60
RUBINSTEIN Etude, in C major.
a) b>o a> b;o
b. Edited notations.
The Schumann composition may have suggested to Rubin-

which the dotted eighth-note of
stein his False-note Etude, in
the ascending arpeggiated chord at a resolves to the following
chord-note at 6. The first note of each descending arpeggio
on the second beat is also an appoggiatura, c. The dotted
aPPggiaturas D# and C# should sound as though struck on
the first beat of the measure, since the preceding tones con-
stitute an acciaccatura-arpeggio, the notes of which are written
successively. Had the composer so desired, he could have

written the notes of the ascending arpeggio one above the other,
as indicated at d or as at e, which show more distinctly that the
long-sustained appoggiatura comes on the first beat.
EXAMPLE 61
CRAMER Etude, in G major.
Schindler says that "Beethoven gave prominent force to

allappoggiaturas, particularly the minor second, even in run-
ning passages." In reference to this Cramer study Beethoven
himself says: "Attention must be paid to the accent of the fifth
note of each group, which mostly appears as the [first note of a]
minor second. Trochaic measure forms* the basis of each group;
the first note accented and long, but less so the fifth."
EXAMPLE 62
WAGNER Tristan and Isolde.
The minor second, employed either as appoggiatura or as

a tone of a discord, keeps the auditor in suspense until its
Minor secondresolution, the beauty of which is thus enhanced.

That which by itself is unrestful and ugly may be
effective, even poetic and beautiful, when placed in its proper
setting. "Why rushed the discords in but that harmony
should be prized?" writes Browning. How we are stirred by

the love-motif of Tristan and Isolde! Note the expressiveness
of the minor seconds :
EXAMPLE 63
BEETHOVEN Sonata, in F minor, Op. 57. Allegro assai.
what a profound impression is made upon the feelings when

hearing the above measures from Beethoven's F minor Sonata,
as the thrice-struck Z>b descends to C\
EXAMPLE 64
REINECKE Variations, in Eb, Op. 6.
In rapid passages it is sometimes desirable to give special

attention to the bringing out of the tone of resolution, which
must always be evident to the ear. The above importance of
tone of resolution
passage from Reinecke's Variations, in Eb, for
two pianos, will sound very harsh and unpleasing if the performer
isnot an adept pianist, for the notes played by the thumb of
the right hand are apt to sound so strongly as to prevent the
auditor from hearing their progression to chord-tones a minor
second above. These dissonant tones, although not appoggia-
turas, asthey occur upon an unaccented part of the measure
and resolve upon a more accented part, yet hi the rendering
should have almost the effect of appoggiaturas displaced
rhythmically.
EXAMPLE 65
SCHUMANN Andante and Variations, in Bt>.
There is some dangermaking over-prominent the appog-

of
giaturas in playing somewhat similar passages in
the
Blow's Schumann's Andante and Variations, in B\>, for
amazement two pianos. Great care must be taken to con-
nect the first and third sixteenth-notes of each group to the
note of resolution following, and to bring the latter into
sufficient melodic prominence; otherwise the rapidity with
which the notes are played may give an excess of false-note
effect, the harmonic structure becoming vague and the flowing
melody distorted. The performer may be a good musician,

and yet, through lack of technical skill, be unable to convey
the idea to his auditors; indeed, it almost seems as though
the very fact of having conceived a piece well sometimes
stands in the way of a good rendition, for, having the notes
before him, the performer hears with what Schumann calls
"the inner ear," and so may neglect to bring to the ears
of his hearers that which he himself may feel acutely. Boekel-
mann records that Billow was requested to play into a phono-
"
graph, and when he came to hear his own performance repeated
through the tube, his amazement and horror were boundless.
'That machine isn't worth anything/ he exclaimed. 'It isn't
true, I never played like that never!'"

CHAPTER VIII
How TO FIND A HIDDEN MELODY
"
When Wagner wrote that Music is inconceivable without
melody" he restated what has been said by all the great com-
posers of the- past centuries. In every composi- Melody essential
in ail music
tion, no matter by whom, there must be melody
or there is no music. This is as true of Bach as of Chopin, of
Palestrina as of Liszt. The
simplest Clementi or Cramer
study should be played musically and so as to present, in some
degree at least, the elements of orchestration, audible melody
being a prime requisite. But frequently the appearance of the
music does not clearly and at once show to the eye the effect
desired by the composer; in no case is this more true than in
the notation of the melody.
A
melody, whether of vocal or of instrumental character,
is found when it is presented to the eye as Melody hidden
easily
a continuous series of notes with separate stems, by form of
.,,....,.. . ., . notation
especially if it lies in an outer voice, as in this
Chopin nocturne:
EXAMPLE 66
CHOPIN Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1.
a m
and it is not hard to recognize when the melody-notes are in
the highest voice in a series of solid chords, as in the middle

part of the same nocturne.
89
EXAMPLE 67
ft
1
In the majority of cases where the melody lies among the

notes of arpeggiated chords, a, it can be found most readily and
certainly by playing the notes of each group as a
solid chord, as at b, so that the progression of the harmonies
be heard plainly. In this case the Pla y edas
voices may - solid chords
melody is
,
.
at once felt to be m
.
the soprano. A
search for these notes of melody in the original notation at a
shows each one to be the second of a group of thirty-second-
notes, as at c, where the tenuto-mark and the large-sized notes
with added upturned stems of the value of an eighth serve to
indicate with prominence the melody-notes and the cantabile
touch with which they should be played a touch very different
in quality from that of the other voices; for even studies in
technic should not be rendered mechanically, the notes and
nothing more, but should be made also studies in expression.
d. Six ways of symbolizing melodic stress.
As a composer chooses the easiest means of tran-

rule the
scribing his thought, as is the case in 68 a; but the melody
notes might have been written in either of several other ways,

as shown in these six different notations, d, of the first group of
thirty-second-notes, where, in order that the melody-note may
be more readily perceived, it is written at 2 with added stem,
at 3 as a large-sized note, and at 4, 5 and 6 is pointed out by
having placed above it an accent-mark, a dot, a tenuto-mark.
A combination of these or other symbols might have been em-
ployed by the composer had he so desired. One such combina-
tion isgiven in the edited notation at c.
According to the eminent London musical critic, J. S.
Shedlock,* Beethoven, despite his dislike of teaching, personally

* See " Selection of Studies
by J. B. Cramer, with comments by L.
van Beethoven, and preface, translation, explanatory notes, and fingering
by J. S. Shedlock, B.A." Published by Augener & Co., London, 1893.
annotated for the use of his beloved nephew, Karl, twenty-one

of Cramer's studies, deeming them the best preparation toward
a correct interpretation
* of his own pianoforte
Beethoven's . .
annotations to compositions. Beethoven says of the above Study,

Cramer's i n A minor: "The melody throughout lies in the
second note of each group. This study should be

given at first in very moderate tempo and with pretty strong,
though not short, blows. In proportion as the tempo is after-
ward increased the sharp blows will decrease, and the melody
and character of the study will stand out in a clearer light." He
also calls attention to the fact that a passage may be written in
more than one way, as in this study:
EXAMPLE 69
of which he says: "The movement is written throughout in

four voices. The melody lies in the upper voice, as is shown by
the mode of writing. Were, however, the latter as follows:
b t v
y -
_ v , .Y
still the first note of each group would have to be uniformly

accented and held down. The middle voice-notes g c, f c, g c,
etc., must not be given out with the same strength as that of
the upper voice. The measure shows itself as trochaic."
EXAMPLE 70
In regard to the above Study, in D minor, he says: "In the first

fivemeasures the first note of the first triplet and the third note
of the second triplet must be connected together in the best

possible manner, so that the melody may stand out thus:
to
The finger, therefore, must remain on the long note."
EXAMPLE 71
Of this e"tude Beethoven says: "The first note of each group

bears the melody in closest connection; hence the finger ought
not to leave the key until the next melody-note is connection of
melodic tones
struck. Only thus will proper connection be
achieved." In reference to other studies he says: "The triplets
constitute a melody-bearing figure." "The melody, which is
unequally distributed, must be brought out." "Strict con-
nection throughout." "The intelligence of the pupil becoming
gradually more formed will help and proper connection will be
obtained." "By paying heed the melodic movement stands
. . .
out in passages without so doing every passage loses its mean-

;
ing." The burden of all his remarks is that all tones should be
suitably sustained, connected and given proper dynamic force
while at the same time preserving the natural measure-accents.
Let us find the melody in the arpeggiated chords of this
beautiful little piece, 72 a.
EXAMPLE 72
BACH Prelude, in C minor.
a. Bach's notation. (3 measures.)

b. Melody in upper voice of chords. (8 measures.)

Here also there is but one note of melody in each measure.

How simple, yet how beautifulis this melody! how rich these
chords This surely is religion expressed in music. One note of

!
In order to awaken the right conception of the melody in each

measure
composition as a whole and to gain a full enjoy-
ment of its melodic and harmonic beauties, as well as a perception
of the contrapuntal progression of the five voices, the entire piece
should be played in the same manner as the others, in unbroken
chords, as at b. In this piece the notes of the melody occur on
the second beat of each measure, and should be played so as to
give the required character to the tone; for one should aim,
"
as Bach says in the preface to his Inventions, above all, to
acquire a cantabile style of playing."
After playing these pieces thoughtfully, first in solid chords,
then as intended by the composer, it becomes
Melodic stress
an easy matter to find and to bring out the
melody at a in the following excerpt from Schubert's Moments
Musicals, in C$ minor.
EXAMPLE 74
SCHUBERT Moments Musicals, C# minor.
a. Notation.
b. Harmonic Skeleton of the above.
^ 11 ft ,
c. An edited notation.
When the harmonies are played in chords as at 6, the melody is

heard in the upper voice. Therefore the last sixteenth-note of
each group should be played with the required melodic emphasis
as shown by the larger notes and added tenuto-marks at c.
Such a manner of playing in unbroken chords or intervals is a
good study in a simultaneous use of various qualities of tone,
which qualities should be imitated when playing the piece in its
arpeggiated form. Of course, the melodic stress does not dis-
place nor weaken the grammatical or rhetorical accents in this
or other pieces.
EXAMPLE 75
a. SCHUBERT Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 4.
b. Harmonic Skeleton of above.
(meas. 3)
Sometimes, as in this Schubert Impromptu, a, the melody

lies in the highest voice of chords alternately arpeggiated and
solid. Students frequently play the chords in measures 5 and 6
in a dragging manner and as though there were no connection in
spirit between them and the measures preceding and succeeding.
If the first part of the Impromptu be played through in chords

as suggested at b the melody is at once perceived to belong to
the highest voice both of the arpeggiated and of the solid chords.
This manner of playing likewise assists the ear to a more ready
appreciation and enjoyment of the harmonies. Similar cases of
melody hidden in arpeggiated harmonies are very numerous.
Such passages are found in Beethoven's Sonata in F minor,
Op. 57 (see Example 9), in the Andante of his G major Sonata,
Op. 14, No. 2, in his Variations on a Theme by Righini, and in
his Variations on a Russian Theme. Too often the melody
in arpeggiated harmonies remains hidden from the player; how
often one hears Chopin's Etude, in C major uncomprehendingly
played with brilliancy, perhaps, but nothing more. But what
life, what shimmering melodies de Pachmann brings to our
ears when he plays it!

The melody may come " unequally distributed" upon both
unaccented and accented parts of the measure, as in Liszt's
transcription of Schubert's Gretchen at the Spinning-Wheel.
EXAMPLE 76
SCHUBERT-LISZT Gretchen am Spinnrade.
In all of these instances the difficulty in finding the melody-

notes is twofold: they are concealed by the arpeggiated form
of the chordand also because they occur upon the Slight rhythmic
lessaccented parts of the measure. Yet it is not value of
melodic
extremely difficult to discover; for when the
chords are played in solid form the melody is heard to lie in an
outer and therefore a naturally prominent voice; it should be
played with no when found in an inner

less distinctness voice,
as in this arrangement of Schumann's At the Fountain.
EXAMPLE 77
SCHUMANN At the Fountain.
a. Notation.
b. Melody of the above.
Instead of simplifying the notation, the double stems in

the upper staff at a are rather a source of confusion in so far as
Melody in an finding the melody is concerned, because in the
inner voice fi rs^ measure the lower stems are attached to
notes of the melody and in the next measure to accompanying
notes. In the second measure the upper stems belong alternately
to notes of the melody and to the accompanying F# in the
soprano. Played in chords it becomes clear that only one voice
moves melodiously that given at b.
EXAMPLE 78
SAINT-SAENS Toccata, F# minor,
a. Notation.
mp
b. Melody in large notes.

Another example of melody in an inner voice is given at

78 a, where the upper two notes in the right hand constitute
accompanying harmony which flows as shown in the large notes
at b, wh9re a full harmony is written upon the accented beats of
each measure.
Contrasting with these examples is that at 10, and the
themes of the Bach Fugues in C# major, from Part I, and G
major, from Part II, of the Well-tempered Clavichord, for while
an arpeggiated harmony of several notes often contains but one
melodic tone, this is by no means always the case, since, as these
examples show, successive notes belonging to one harmony
may all be melody notes.
EXAMPLE 79
BACH Allemande, from Partita, in A minor.
The above from the A minor Partita gives the notes played
by the right hand. At b the large notes give the principal mel-
ody, made both of the scale and of arpeggiated Melody accom.
harmonies interspersed with passing notes, and panied by self-
made hannony
having frequent wide skips down and up while ;
occasionally other voices of the same pitch as the melodic tones

and entering with them, form sustained and accompanying har-
monies (in small notes) above

the melody. In the original no-
tation, a, this is not quickly evident to the eye, as all the notes
are of the same size. Examples 80, 81 and 82 contain similar
manifestations of the same principle.
EXAMPLE 80
BACH Prelude, in F major, Well-tempered Clavichord, Part II.
b. Edited notation.
* *E/f
The main theme in the Prelude, in F major is even more

involved in appearance, although immediately evident to the
ex P erienc ed musician. The edited notation at
Melody accom-
themat- & shows the main melody written in large notes,
and a close scrutin y of the other parts makes it
clear that this melody is accompanied both the-
matically and harmonically.
EXAMPLE 81
SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, Op. 16, No. 1.
b. Harmonic skeleton: melody in large notes.
jr
mony, the lowest in another and in a middle voice of still an-

other harmony. Besides which, the notes of the accompaniment
Meiod ia ed
^^ those of the melody may be divided be-
by right hand tween the right and the left hand, in a manner
first em P lo y ed b ^ Schumann, of which a
good in-
stance is found in Example 2, and the melody
may not be immediately evident to the eye, for the highest
voice may be given added stems by the composer for harmonic
reasons, not, as is often the case, to assist the eye in finding
the notes of the melody.
Sometimes the melody, duet-like, alternates between voices.
Often it is interwoven with other voices, as in variations of com-
Meiody sounding plicated pattern, although in that case the original
through rests theme helps in finding the melodic tones. It may
be difficult to distinguish the melody from its embellishments,
as in Example 95 a. Not infrequently some of the melody
notes should be prolonged through rests written for the fingers
and not for the tone, as in Example 113 and in this Etude by
Chopin.
EXAMPLE 82
CHOPIN Etude, Op. 10, No. 8, F major.
a. Notation.
b. Melody of the above.
f'
This melody is sustained by means of the pedal and the

fingers. The C on the third beat of the firstand third measures
should be played very softly so as not to disturb the sustained
effect of the C of the first beat, which should sound until the
C on the fourth beat is produced. The melody sustained and con-
nected in this way flows naturally and expressively as Chopin
intended, and sounds as at 6.
These few examples, types of but few of the many ways in
which a melody may be hidden by the form of its notation, give
some idea of the manner in which notes of the melody may be
sought, and the pianist with musicianly insight and experience
will successfully solve all problems of this nature which contin-
ually confront him in both classic and romantic music. When

found, the notes of the melody must be played with suitable
quality and duration of tone, for, as Beethoven says, without
melody every passage loses its meaning.
CHAPTER IX
HARMONY :
DURATION AND DYNAMICS OF TONES IN THE DIFFERENT VOICES.
In an analysis of the harmonic structure of a composition

each chord receives manifold consideration in order to bring out
Characteristic correctly its various lights and shades,
tone of a "
Untwisting all the chains that tie
triad
The hidden soul of harmony."
each harmony may be thought of as an isolated entity com-

First,
posed of notes whose tonal relation to each other must be felt
both by player and by auditor. Some of these tones are more
instrumental than others in giving individuality to a harmony,
and the interval for which it is named usually may be considered
as most characteristic.
EXAMPLE 83
a) b) c) d)
In the minor triad, 6, and in the major triad, c, the characteristic

interval the third; in the diminished triad, a, and in the aug-
is
mented triad, d, the fifth is the distinctive interval.
EXAMPLE 84
a) b) c) d)
In playing any chord of the seventh, a, 6, c, d whether dimin- y
ished, minor or major, the seventh is the most strongly empha-

sized tone of the chord if this be unassociated with other chords;
but the diminished minor, major, and augmented triads, a, 6, c, d,
104
upon which chords of the seventh are built, retain also their char-
acteristic intervals, whose comparative stress should be brought
out with different qualities of touch. For instance, if the chord
of the seventh is built upon the dominant, c, the third is as
expressive in its own way as the seventh. In a chord of the ninth,
e, the dissonant ninth, whether major or minor, is of greater har-
monic interest than the other chord tones, although each of these
keeps its individuality.
The notes of any chord may be played with such variety

of touches that, although the harmony remains unaltered,
its import varies; for with change in tone-color variations in
come new meaning and different feeling. This is chord-color
exemplified in the following ten illustrations in Example 85

/, 8, h.
f)
EXAMPLE 86
a) b) b) c) c) d)
T > **
As a color when brought into contrast with one brighter

seems dull by comparison, and when compared with one more
Melodic lines in somber than itself appears to be of brilliant hue,
chord-connection so the color effect of a chord varies with its sur-
roundings, the character and strength of each tone depending

much upon the nature of the chords with which it is connected.
A comparison of the diminished triad, a, with the minor triad, 6,
shows that of the three notes constituting each chord the funda-
mental and the third are common to both; the distinguishing
tones in the connection of these two triads are therefore the tones
remaining, the fifth of each triad, which may be played with
rather more tone than the other notes. But if the minor triad, 6,
is conceived of in connection with the major triad, c, the third of
each chord is seen to be the only tone not common to both
chords; and as E\> and E% are the tones which differentiate these
two harmonies they should be given tonal prominence. If the
connection is that of a major triad, c, with an augmented triad, d,
the distinguishing tone is the fifth, and the melodic succession G
to (7# should be brought into greater notice than the repeated
tones C and E. The large notes indicate the characteristic tones
which form the moving and consequently the interesting voice
in each of these three illustrations. In the connection of each
two chords grouped together between bars, at 84 a, 6, c, d, e, it
is evident that the moving voice is of melodic as well as harmonic
interest, although, as each illustration stops with an upward

progression of the unresolved seventh, it is rather displeasing to
the ear. Discords, "dear to the musician," are finally followed
by concords, and in such a connection of chords each dissonance
usually should be given more stress than the interval to which
it resolves, as in Example 49, and as shown in the following
example, where a is the dissonance and b the resolution.

EXAMPLE 87
a) b) a) b)
r~ -r
The melodic interest of voices accompanying the principal

melody should be given due observance. No matter how the
music be notated, the player should feel and make
Contrapuntal
his auditor feel this contrapuntal progression of progression of
voices
the voices as they pass through the different bar-
monies, each voice bearing a sub-melody of more or less beauty.
Says Hauptmann: "The chief aim of the music we are discuss-
ing is harmony, but if it be worth anything, it must be deter-
mined by the melody of the several parts." Sometimes the
tones of these auxiliary melodies are so soft as scarcely to be
heard; at other times they assume a prominence second only
to that of the main melody; and occasionally, for variety, one
of them may even for a short time usurp the supremacy.
EXAMPLE 88
CHOPIN Ballade, in
a)
b)
EXAMPLE 89
CHOPIN Nocturne, in F# minor, Op. 55.
6. Edited notation.
The above extract at a is copied from Klindworth's edition

of Chopin's F minor Nocturne, Op. 55. The parts played by the
Harmony made left hand have harmonic interest and the triplets
of melodies m the right hand represent two beautiful melodies
moving in contrary motion. A complete notation of the exact
duration of the tones is undesirable, for it obscures the rhythmic
formation and makes the passage hard to read; it is so written at
6, where the slurs and the direction of the stems help to show the
melodic formation. The connection of tone in these two melo-
dious voices is obtained entirely with the ringers, which must be
possessed of a developed and refined control of tone, and of
on a key and in sliding from one key to another
skill in shifting
without making a break in the legato, as is shown in Example

125. The bass is held at first by the fingers, and then by the
pedal, which should not be used as indicated by the pedal-marks
at a, which, as so often happens, even in good editions, are
incorrectly placed. (See Examples 119-121.)
EXAMPLE 90
BEETHOVEN Sonata, in D major, Op. 10, No. 3. Presto.
Closing measures; theme in augmentation.
b. Original theme in measures 7 and 8.
c. Bass voice; edited notation.
d. Harmonic scheme of a.
.j
r |J,.J_LJ
C
i r r
The bassvoice usually lies in the lowest note of each chord

and always of great importance as the foundation upon which
is
rests the whole superstructure. The bass is often

Bass voice
melodically significant; and if it have thematic
import, it should be rendered so effectively that "it will discourse
most eloquent music."
The above example is taken from the close of the first move-
ment of Beethoven's Sonata in D major, Op. 10. A comparison
t
of this a with measures 7 and 8 of the theme at the beginning of

the movement b shows that, combined with an inverted organ-
point upon the note D, there is an arpeggiated progression in
thirds corresponding in harmonies to the thirds at 6. This

thematic imitation must be made obvious to the ear, and espe-
dally in the bass voice, which, as shown at c, carries the theme

in augmentation and on strong beats of the measure. This is
evident in the harmonic structure at d.
EXAMPLE 91
CRAMER Etude, in E minor.
Beethoven, in his annotations of the Cramer studies, speaks

not only of the treatment of the melody but also of sustaining
Beethoven's certain tones of the harmony, even when not so
directions
indicated in the notation. Of this one in E minor
he says: "The rhythmic accent must be uniformly placed on
the first note of each triplet. In the four introductory measures,
the thumb adheres firmly to the fundamental note, so that the
broken triads, and, in a similar manner, all broken chords, may
be made clear. In order to obtain connection (of tone) the trip-
let figure in the left hand must be dealt with in the same
way." Such a sustaining of tone is here indicated by the

insertion of dotted half-notes.
EXAMPLE 92
CRAMER Etude, in G minor.
In regard to this Study, in G minor Beethoven gives the direction

that "On account of the connection the first note must always
be held on." Such remarks are merely outlines suggestive of
correct performance, which Beethoven probably elaborated in
INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC. Ill
his verbal teaching, for they are but meager indications of the
way which
in he himself played such passages. In common with
his predecessors, Beethoven used an expressive accentuation
and emphasis combined with a deft prolongation of certain
tones much more freely than the few examples annotated for
a comparative beginner in pianoforte playing might seem to
indicate. Schindler, in his Biography, speaks of Beethoven's
"
manner of holding particular notes, which, combined with a
kind of soft, gliding touch, imparted such a vivid coloring." . . .
"It was more especially the rhythmic accent which he generally

desired to have strongly brought out. On the other hand, he
usually treated the melodic accent as the situation required,
only being in the habit of accenting all suspensions, particularly
that of the minor second in cantabile, more emphatically than
other players whom we had heard. This imbued his playing
with a characteristic pregnancy quite different from the smooth,
shallow performances which never reach the height of tone-
speech."
The harmony when produced successively do not
tones of a
form a chord neither do they make a melody, since they do not
;
succeed each other in a melodic line, but overlap

Legatissimo
each other. In consequence, the tones of such a superiegato,
*"
harmony are called arpeggiated, because, like
tones successively produced on a harp (arpa), they continue
sounding together, although produced one after another. The
"
word arpeggio," therefore, might be preferable to the term
"broken-chord," which is often used in reference to such arpeg-
giated harmonies as those in Examples 9 and 68-75. Czerny
speaks of this overlapping of tones of the harmony as "legatis-
simo." Moscheles, Liszt, von Billow and other musicians also
use this word, but the more correct term "superiegato" is
preferable, since legatissimo merely means very legato, while
the word superiegato means over-legato (more than legato),
the continuing of a tone for more than its written duration, and
after a following tone of the harmony has been produced.
Instead of discontinuing the tone as soon as its connection
(legato) is made with the tone following, it is prolonged beyond
the point of legato and becomes superlegato. The word "armo-

nioso," derived from the same root as the word harmony, also
indicates this superlegato manner of playing. In modern
editions of the classics, such as the Bach-Busoni, the Beethoven-
Bulow, the Schubert-Liszt and the Chopin-Klindworth editions,
superlegato effects, as conceived by the composer, are often
more fully indicated by the editors. Superlegato of a few notes
or of one note only is sometimes desired; although very often,
when by added stems or other signs the editor indicates its use
for a few notes only, it is because the necessity for superlegato
isgreater for these than for others, and, as has been demon-
strated in many examples, notably in Example 1 and in many
examples of Chapter VIII, because even when a complete
writing out of a necessary superlegato is possible it is often
undesirable.
EXAMPLE 93
BACH Chromatic Fantasie.
b. An
m Arpeggio
edited notation.
c. Another notation.
d. Bulow's notation.
e. Notation of Mendelssohn's performance.
Notes of arpeggiated harmonies are usually sustained for

more than their written value, by the fingers, by the pedal, or by
both. In the time of Bach a superlegato playing of an undulat-
ing arpeggio was often indicated under solid chords, as in his
Chromatic Fantasie, of which a couple of measures are given

at 93 a. These chords represent the first of a series of ar-
Arpeggio. peggios of which the first, written out in arpeggio
form, (l), is followed by solid chords, (2), intended
Arpeggio legato
by Bach to be played in the same arpeggiated manner, as indi-

cated by the word arpeggio written beneath them. This notation
is in accordance with that of the authoritative Bach Gesell-
schaft edition, an edition which gives the text as it is in the
original manuscript, and, in cases where the original manu-

script is no longer extant, makes use of the oldest copy by
Bach's pupils, or the oldest published edition. Many of the
old editions employ the words arpeggio legato in place of the
word arpeggio in this composition, as do also some of the more
recent editions. Many instances of this manner of indicating
an undulating and sustained arpeggio are found in the original
editions of Handel's clavier works, for this way of writing was
also adopted by harpsichordists. The same effect was called
for by the use of a vertical slur placed before a chord con-
necting the lowest and the highest notes; however, this manner
of playing was much more frequently employed than indicated,
and very few composers of the time, with the exception of
Couperin, took the trouble to indicate so exactly this necessary
prolongation of tones.
In more recent editions the execution of these arpeggiated
chords is more fully indicated, as at 6, where the use of the
pedal causes each arpeggiated tone to overlap its successors
and to sound until the pedal is released when beginning to
play the next arpeggio, although even then the fingers, and
later a renewed pressure of the pedal, continue to hold the
melody and certain other tones until they are connected to
those in the next arpeggio. Were the execution of only the
first arpeggio written out in full as it sounds, it would have
the complicated appearance shown at c, where the large notes
are used to point out the attacked tones. Billow's edition
more the superlegato and gives the bass in
fully indicates
octaves to make
the passage more sonorous. In reference to
"
this passage Mendelssohn wrote: I take the liberty to play
the arpeggios with every possible crescendo and piano and jf.,
with pedal as a matter of course, and the bass notes doubled
as well. . . . N.B. Each chord is broken twice, and later on
only once, as it happens." Example 93 e gives these arpeggios
as played by Mendelssohn.
EXAMPLE 94
HENSELT If I Were a Bird.
c. Melody and main tones of harmony.
m, ^ *
customary word "legatissimo," and the stems pointing alter-

nately up and down indicate an alternate use of the hands. At
b the notes of the melody are written large, the notes of the bass
are given approximately their durational value, and a desirable,
though slight, arpeggiating of the chords is indicated by the
usual wavy line. The necessary superlegato of all the arpeg-
giated tones of each full harmony is briefly called for by the
word Fed. at the beginning of the composition. Signs denot-
ing an exact use of the pedal would make a very complicated
notation, but the melody must be legato, each note of it
must be clearly connected to the next, without blurring the
passing tones and the appoggiaturas in sixths, or making a
superlegato of the melody-notes belonging to the same harmony.
But notes harmony, here written small, must be played
of the
superlegato. Atc the melody is in large notes, and important

harmonic tones, which are attacked at the same time as the
melodic tones, are represented in small notes. All the arpeg-
giated notes which are omitted at c, should be played more
lightly, as they merely fill in the superlegato harmony. All
the examples at a, in the original edition from 74 to 79, should
be played superlegato, so as to obtain correct harmony with
each melodic tone and to sustain the bass tones.
By employing a varied accentuation and a greater or less
prolongation of certain tones, the pianist whose fingers have
attained absolute independence of each other will so adjust the
relative values of each harmony as to make most prominent
those tones of a harmony which, considering its environment,
are most needed to bring out its essential traits, to make evident
the contrapuntal flow, and to support the melody. To a certain
extent these tones can be found by any one who has a musical
and hearing ear, even if he has no knowledge of theory, by
playing the harmonies in unbroken form. He can experiment
as shown in Examples 85 and 87, giving the more force now
to this tone, and now to most expressive and best
that, until the
balanced combination of and shade is found.
light The
musician-pianist, however, intuitively, and without experiment,
feels which are the more characteristic progressions.
The problem of a correct treatment of theharmony is a

complex one. Toplay with such ease that the performer's
mind is not distracted from the music by the Themodern
thought of the means used to interpret it, requires pianoforte,
Modern technic
a ready technic and experience in using it to the
best advantage. In playing upon the sonorous pianoforte of
today, and especially upon the instruments of this country,
with their deep drop of key and heavy action, much skill is
necessary to bring out the meaning of a composition. But a
technic sufficient to produce, by variety of touches, the dis-
tinctive quality, quantity and duration of tone, combined with
musical understanding, insures correct performance. In every
composition that he may play the interpreter should make
application of his theoretical knowledge, so that the auditor
may enjoy a well-phrased melody upheld by interesting pro-
gressions of each accompanying voice and by sufficiently sus-
tained harmonies founded on a correct and expressive bass.
Says Schumann: "Melody may be compared to chess: the
queen, viz., melody, has supreme power, but the final issue
rests with the king, viz., harmony."
CHAPTER X
A THEME OF CHOPIN INTERPRETED
"Ah, my friend, why do you take this piano composer lor

a weakling? Why give him over to the tough mercies of the
Musical prepa- Young Person?" protests Mr. Huneker, in his

ration for
illuminating and brilliant essay, The Greater
Chopin-playing
Chopin.It is unfortunately true that Chopin-
playing is begun far too soon, and while the

usually
student is immature not only emotionally but musically,
intellectually, and technically. A high order of talent and of
equipment is necessary to the interpretation of Chopin's
works. Extensive preparatory study of Romantic music, as
exemplified in the etudes and pieces of Heller, Jensen, Haber-
bier, Henselt, Field, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Raff, Rubinstein, and
other composers, is indispensable. For until the player has
entered fully into the spirit of romance in general, the individual
characteristics of Chopin's poetic works cannot be revealed to
him; he has no idea of the esthetic content, and does not even
perceive the musical meaning of the notes. Ignorant not only
of the language in which the music is written, but of its very
alphabet, it is in vain for him, conceptionless, to attempt an

interpretation. The player should have become thoroughly
acquainted with much classic music of all styles; he should
enjoy the beauty of Mozart and take pleasure in the simplicity
of Haydn; he should be imbued with a love of Beethoven's
orchestrally conceived piano music, and delight in the songful

Schubert; above all, he should be, as was Chopin himself, a
devotee of Bach, the master of masters.
Complete appreciation of the exquisite formal perfection
of Chopin's music calls for a theoretical knowledge sufficient
to enable the student to compose correctly in the various
musical forms. He must have full and instant command of
118
touch, so that if necessary the ten fingers may simultaneously
produce ten different degrees of tonal force, Technical

quality, and duration. Sonority, delicacy, volu- equipment
r
bility of tone; strength, accuracy, and speed in
touch, and nicety in pedal control are all prerequisites to the

playing of Chopin's music.
Poetic temperament cannot be taught one has it or has
itnot; a musical and hearing ear can only be acquired through
the continued and critical use of that organ; and finger dexterity
comes only through well-directed and assiduous practice. But
the structure of a piece and an intelligent understanding of its
notation can in some small measure be learned through the
written word, and the object of this chapter
is to give a partial
analysis of a few measures of Chopin's B\> minor Nocturne,

practically applying and elaborating the suggestions given in
the preceding chapters.
Chopin's first Nocturne, Op. 9, written when the composer
was only twenty-three years old, is among the simpler and more
easily comprehended of his compositions. Acorn- comparison of
editions
parison of editions will be found most helpful,
Klindworth's edition breathes the Chopin spirit, and the anno-
tations in the Kullak edition are especially helpful in stimulating
the imagination. An edition in accordance with the original
should also be consulted, that the student, by comparing its
notation with that of the above mentioned and other editions,
may become aware of different musicians' conceptions of the
composer's meaning, and gradually become able to form his

own conception and make his own edition. For, of course,
Chopin, in common with all by signs but few
writers, expresses
"
directions as to the In a degree, this is true of
declamation."
speech-writing, where the words and signs are intended for but
one performer; how much more is it the case in music- writing
for the pianoforte, where notes and signs may represent the
simultaneous declamation of many voices!
"
Liszt, in his Life of Chopin, writes : As the manifold forms
of art are but different incantations, charged with electricity
from the soul of the artist, and destined to evoke the latent
emotions and passions in order to render them sensible, intelli-

gent, and, in some degree, tangible; so genius may be mani-
Embeiiishment fested in the invention of new forms. ... In arts
forms in which sensation is linked to emotion, without
the intermediate assistance of thought and reflection, the mere
introduction of unaccustomed forms, of unused modes, must
present an obstacle to the immediate comprehension of any very
original composition." Throughout this Nocturne the student
"
is brought face to face with unaccustomed forms" of embel-
lishment which are peculiarly Chopinesque.
EXAMPLE 95 a
CHOPIN Nocturne, in Bb minor, Op. 9, No. 1.
a. Mikuli edition.
EXAMPLE 95 6
CHOPIN Nocturne, in Bb minor.
6. Another edition.
The two-measure phrase consisting of sixteen notes, with which

the melody begins, is given in various guise no less than six
times, beginning, respectively, on the second half of the measures
1, 3, 9, 11, 71, and 73. In measures 1, 2, and 3 the principal
thematic phrase makes its first appearance as follows:
EXAMPLE 96
a. First Thematic Phrase.
(meas.l)
Immediately upon the close of this two-measure thematic

phrase it reenters in the second half of the third measure with
intricate ornamentation.
b. First variant of the above. Original notation.
(5)
The many embellishing notes and the melodic notes are all
written as eighths with connected stems, for they are intended
to sound perfectly even; the number of notes grouped together
is indicated by the figures 1 1 and 22. At first sight these notes
may seem to have but slight connection with the opening theme
which immediately precedes them, but a close analysis shows
them to be nearly related. This can be demonstrated advan-
tageously by analyzing each measure separately.
In order to make clear to the beginner in Chopin-playing
the relative thematic values of these notes and of the notes of
Thematic value the other variants of the first and second measures
of certain notes
o f the melody, they are written in the following
two examples under the opening melodic phrase from which
they are derived, that their parentage may be readily discovered.
The figures under the key-signature indicate the measures from
which the notes are taken. (For the more intelligent under-
standing of this analysis, see examples 95 a and b as well as the
shorter extracts.) Large notes are here used to denote the mel-
ody, while small notes embody the embellishment thrown round
it. Ordinarily the size of the notes is uniform throughout a
composition, although Biilow in his edition of the Etudes often
indicates tones of especial expressiveness by the use of two
different sizes of notes. Chopin himself has but once employed
this means making the melody notes prominent
of in his A \>
major Etude, Op. 25; but this manner of playing is equally

meant in editions of pieces not so annotated, in Chopin's works
as well as in all other music. The ornamenting notes (here
written small) should be played pianissimo and with the

utmost delicacy of touch. The final triplets should be played
with slightly more tone, in the same way as the final notes of
a turn ending a trill, while the embellishment notes should be
lightly played with the quality of the shake.
EXAMPLE 97
a. First measure of theme, and variants. Edited notation.
rt
1
a.
EXAMPLE 98
Second measure of theme and variants. Edited notation.
a.
Here the four times repeated F should be unbrokenly sustained

by the pedal and fingers for four beats (as indicated by the whole
note within parentheses) . In the examples at b and d this pro-
longed F'is struck twice, and at c but once; yet in all four
examples the F, whether struck once or oftener, sings to the
next melodic tone, indicated by a large note, which at a, c, and
d is GV, and at b is F. In the fourth measure at b the F is
embellished by Gb and E%, written in small notes. The second
melodic F should be sustained by the pedal through the em-
bellishing passage thrown round it until the final triplet, F,
E$, E\>, is played, with rather more melodic stress.
The notation of the last half of the third and all of the fourth
measure, given in this and the preceding Example, should
be compared with the Mikuli edition of these same measures,
shown in Example 95 a, where the notes are of equal size, regard-
less of their greater or less thematic value. Both notations have
the same significance and should be rendered in the same way.
The slurs connecting the notes are used to group them with
regard to a mental subdivision, calculated, with reference to

the accompanying harmony, to throw the melody into promi-
nence and to show the close inner relationship of these passages,
;
which present such unlike appearance to the eye in the original

edition, in which they are written in large notes. (The stem

connection here the same as in the original.)
is
Of this kind of tonal decoration Liszt says: "It is to

Chopin we owe . . . the little groups of superadded notes,
falling like drops of pearly dew upon the melodic figure. This
species of adornment had hitherto been modeled only upon the
fioriture of the great Old School of Italian Song; the embellish-
ments had been servilely copied by the piano,
for the voice
although become stereotyped and monotonous; he imparted

to them the charm of novelty, surprise, and variety, unsuited
for the vocalist, but in perfect keeping with the character of
the instrument.'* Keats's lines in his Hyperion are exquisitely
descriptive of such embellishing passages.
"A living death was in each gust of sounds,

Each family of rapturous hurried notes
That fell, one after one, yet all at once,
Like pearl-beads dropping sudden from their string."
The theme is emphasized and given a different

slightly
color at each entry by the modifications in its outline, by the
additions, curtailments, and changes of the chromatic ornamen-
tation which hazily envelops the melody and forms a shimmering
setting. At c the first note, F, is played with sufficient force
for the tone to continue sounding for four beats, until the G\>
isheard, introducing the final melodic triplet, (?[?, F, C (derived
from the notes of the original theme at a under which they are
placed). All notes of the measure should be played evenly;
the ornamenting shower of notes should be played pianissimo,
and the final triplet may be given with a little more tone.
In the example at d the melodic F in the second measure
is twice struck, and sounds strongly through the dainty embel-
lishing passage of tones, until the final notes of the measure,
(?[?, F, E\>, D\>, are played. Of these four notes, the Gb has
its own
embellishing notes, and the final F, Eb, and Z>b
constitute an interesting triplet on the last beat. The triplet
ending seven of the eight. measures just analyzed is very char-
acteristic of Chopin, and is to be found in much of his music.
In passage playing it is always well mentally to subdivide

the notes into groups, for the sake of a better articulation and
also in order to play them more expressively and to bring out
the melodic and harmonic outlines. The above grouping of
the notes as shown by the slurs one way of doing this. Another
is
editor might do it quite differently. Klindworth, for instance,

instead of using slurs, indicates his grouping by means of addi-
tional connecting-tails, making the eighth-notes in measure
74 into sixteenths, as in the following example.
EXAMPLE 99
KLINDWORTH Notation of 98 d.
Another might write and play in still another way; but every
musician, in his editing and in his rendering, has the bringing
out of the original theme in mind, whatever be the means which
he may employ to attain this.
Says Rubinstein: "The Pianoforte-Bard, the Pianoforte-
Rhapsodist, the Pianoforte-Mwd, the Pianoforte-$owZ is Chopin.
Expressive
Whether the spirit of this instrument breathed
tones of the upon him or he upon it, how he wrote for it, I
do not know; but only an entire going-over-of-
one-into-the-other could call such compositions into life. . . .
Nor should we overlook the highly interesting fact that he is

the only one of the composers who, conscious of his specialty,
creates for this specialty (the Pianoforte) and (with the ex-
ception of a few songs) attempts no other style of composition.
. .From a purely musical standpoint, how perfect in technic
.
and form, how interesting and new in harmony, and often how
great!"
Although the compositions of Chopin, "the Raphael of
the piano," are so strictly pianistic that but few attempts
have been made to transcribe them for other instruments, and

although in playing his works one should have in mind the piano-
tone and not the orchestra as in Beethoven-playing, yet there
should be much diversity of tone-coloring, and each part or
voice should be given with tonal quality, quantity, and duration
proportionate to its expressiveness in the passage in which it is
found.
"In making an analysis of the work of Chopin," writes
Liszt, "we meet with beauties of a high order, expressions
entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. . . .
They disguise their profundity under so much grace, their

science under so many charms, that it is with difficulty we free
ourselves sufficiently from their magical enthralment to judge
coldly of their theoretical value. ... A high rank must
be assigned by the future historians of music to the one who
distinguished himself in art by a genius for melody so rare, by
such songful and remarkable enlargements of the harmonic
tissue,"
Huneker writes that the pianist Halle "was bewildered
when he heard Chopin play, for he did not believe such
first
music could be represented by musical signs."

Schumann in one of his criticisms makes this pregnant
statement: "The older I grow, the more convinced I am that
the pianoforte is especially prominent in three leading qualities
peculiar to it fulness and variety in exemplification of har-
mony (made use of by Beethoven and Franz Schubert), pedal
effect (aswith Field), and volubility (Czerny, Herz, etc.). The
large, broad player exhibits the first, the fantastic artist gives
the second, a pearly touch displays the third quality. Many-
sided, cultured composer-performers, like Hummel, Moscheles,
and, finally, Chopin, combine all these, and are consequently
the most admired by players; those writers and performers
who neglect to study any of these fall into the background.
Lowe, indeed, makes use of all; but he is not a fine player, and
mind will not do everything."
Mind will not do everything; it is not sufficient that the
performer understands and mentally hears the composition
"
he rendering, that he should be able to solfa it without the
is
"
piano/' and that his imagination should be cultivated to the
point of retaining the harmony that is given to a melody quite
as well as the melody itself"; but it is also necessary that he
shall have the skill to communicate his conception of the piece
to the listener and to interpret it audibly. In order to make
the harmonic scheme evident to the hearer, the accompani-
ment in this Nocturne, strictly pianistic in form, should be
considered as representing a number of voices of various color-
ing. In the beginning of the piece there are five voices played
by the left hand. Each of these voices is found, in the main,
in the same place in each group: that is, the first note of each
group of six notes is the bass-note, the next voice is found
in the second note of each group, etc., though this is not inva-
riably so, for sometimes the voices should be conceived as

crossing each other, as they might do in a string quartet.
Occasionally, too (as in measures 6067), the bass-note is not
the lowest written note of the group, but is an unwritten pro-
longation from the preceding measure; while again (as in
measures 68-71) the lowest and last note of each group, not
the the bass-note of the five following notes.
first, is
The nine measures of the accompaniment are rep-
first
resented in solid chords in the next example, so that a correct

conception of the full harmony of each arpeggiated chord may
be facilitated; also that it may easily be perceived that while
certain voicesmove interestingly others hold long-sustained
tones. In this form, too, the most characteristic notes of the
harmony can more readily be discovered.
EXAMPLE 100
Harmonic Skeleton of Arpeggiated Chords.
ni< i
hrr^
These measures contain the harmonic skeleton of the

arpeggiated chords in the lower staff, shown in Examples
102-105, and reveal to the eye that the first Characteris c ti
four measures are founded on a double pedal- tones of the

harmony
point in the bass on the tonic and dominant notes
of the key in which the piece is written b minor; and that
the bass in the next three measures alternates between Db and
(rb, tonic and subdominant notes of the relative key of Db major,
into which there is a short modulation; also that for four
measures and a half the highest voice sustains F, and before
thishas ceased sounding the next highest voice attacks a pro-
longed Z>b. In the above example the dark notes, and in
Examples 102-105 the large black-headed notes with double
stems, are those most expressive in each harmony, and if
played with sufficient prominence they bring out the character
of triad, chord of the seventh, chord of the ninth, etc., and also
make the best support to the melody, supplementing it and the
bass, as shown in Examples 83-87.
EXAMPLE 101
Melodious Inner Accompanying Voices.
Cmeas.2) X3) (4) (5)
If these expressive tones be played alone, as shown in

Example 101, their melodic interest is at once evident. Each
of these voices is melodically pleasing in itself, interesting
and the minor seconds, duly emphasized in the sub-melodies
playing, are in each case most expressive. These melodic inner
voices and the solid chords in which they are found (Example
100) should now be compared with the same harmonies in their
original arpeggiated form in Examples 102-105 and with the
same first nine measures of the piece as shown in Examples 95
a and 6.
EXAMPLE 102
Measures 1, 2, 3, edited.
(meas.l)
Here again in Example 102 are shown in larger notes,

connected by curved lines, these same more expressive accom-
panying notes as they occur in the first three harmonies. In
the first arpeggiated chord played by the left hand the tones
of greatest interest are the melodic F, the fundamental J5b and
the characteristic minor third of the chord, the Db in the tenor.
The other F's and the Bb in the inner voices are merely repeti-
tions in octave of the same tones and are used to fill in the
harmony and give it an undulating movement, and should
therefore be played pianissimo so as not to interfere with the
freshness and beauty of the main tones. The melody, always
by far the most expressive voice of a composition, should be
brought out with the greatest fulness of tone. Another most
important and expressive voice is the bass, which supports not
only the melody but the whole composition built upon it.
Besides these two voices there usually are the inner voices of
considerable In the first arpeggiated chord in
interest.
Example 102, therefore, the tone Z>b should be made to sing

throughout the whole chord, yet without making too much of
it. The only way to do this on the pianoforte, where the tone
begins to fade away the moment it is produced, is to sound the
tone with a little more emphasis than the other less expressive
tones of the chord, so that even when not actually connected
to the next tone in the same voice it will sound connected, and
so form a sub-melody a third (tenth) below the main melody.
In the second half of this measure an arpeggiated chord of
the dominant seventh is built upon the pedal-point B'?. The
dissonant seventh, Eb, and the leading tone, Aft, are the most
characteristic inner tones; but the right hand has a much more
important melodic E\> on the sixth beat; therefore, in order not

to take away from the interest and novelty of this tone by
anticipating it in the left hand (also in order to avoid making
a progression of parallel octaves between the melodic E\> in the
second measure and Db in the third measure and the third
note of each of the accompanying arpeggios) the accompanying
,
E\> should not be sustained over its written value. But the
A%, the leading tone of the key, which sounds so well with the
melodic F, a sixth above it, and with the other melodic tones
which follow, should be slightly emphasized in order that it
may be sustained longer than the duration indicated by the
eighth-note stem given it by Chopin. This A% likewise makes
the expressive progression of a minor second to 5b, the tonic,
to which it regularly resolves and which is the most expressive
of the inner tones of measure three. The half-note in the
melody, the Db, is best supported, not by a repetition of itself
an octave below, but by Bb a tenth below, which, supplemented
with the sustained pedal-point in the bass, is the most expressive
tone in this harmony. The pedal-point should be held as long
as possible by means of the fingers, and afterwards by means
of the damper pedal, so as to sustain only the desired chord-
tones without a perceptible blurring of the melody tones.
EXAMPLE 103
Measures 3, 4, and 5, edited.
(meas.3) (5)
In the second half of measure 3 all the tones of the chord

should be more or less sustained while the original melody, enter-
ing after a breath, starts again, somewhat more impressively,

and repeats in an embellished form the thematic phrase given
Embellished m
Examples 96 a and 102, which at first was an-
11161116
nounced simply and without ornamentation. In
Example 103 the interest of the repeated phrase is heightened
by the mystery with which it is surrounded by the nebulous
tone in which it is enveloped
' '
Such a soft witchery of sound
As twilight elfins make when they at eve
Voyage on gentle gales to Fairyland."
The embellishing turn thrown round A$ in measure 3

should be lightly played so as to ornament the sustained melodic
tone A$. In the fourth measure the harmonic proportion is
similar to that in the second measure. The melodic F should be
played with considerable emphasis, and the next F, preceded by
the double appoggiatura G\> and E\>, should be sounded with
sufficient strength, so as to be heard singing clearly through the
embellishing run woven round it. The pedal should be used to

sustain this melodic tone while the run is so lightly played that
"
it is not unpleasantly blurred. Chopin's fantastic finger plays
hither and thither, veiling, unveiling, so that ear and heart long
"
retain the tones.
The notes of the melody should be a little syncopated, as
indicated by the vertical dotted-lines connecting the notes of
both staves. Yet the notes of the left hand should not be in
the least out of time. Moscheles, who in general was out of
sympathy with Chopin, writes: "Chopin has just been playing
to me, and now for the first time I understand his music. The
rubato, which, with his other interpreters, degenerates into
disregard of time,is with him only a charming originality of
manner; the harsh modulations which strike me disagreeably

when I am playing his compositions no longer shock me, because
he glides over them in a fairylike way with his delicate fingers.
His piano is so soft that he does not need any strong forte to
produce his contrasts; and for this reason one does not miss
the orchestral effects which the German school requires from a
pianoforte player, but allows oneself to be carried away as by

a singer who, little concerned about the accompaniment, entirely
follows his emotion."
EXAMPLE 104
Measures 5, 6, and 7, edited.
(meas.5)
(6)
In the sixth measure the five-note inner-melody played by

the right hand should be given considerable prominence, and
the progression of the two melodies to F in the next measure
should be felt, while the individuality and songfulness of each
should be preserved. To prevent a blurring of these melodies,
their tones must be held by means of the fingers, while the pedal
should be used with sufficient frequency to sustain accom-
panying tones.
In order to avoid jeopardizing the interest of the prolonged
melodic F, to avoid upsetting the tone balance of the harmony
by a preponderance of the sharp major third, and Contrapuntal
also to avoid the progression of octaves between progression of
VOK
melody and inner voice, the (rb of measure 6,
instead of progressing to F, should move, with Bb, to A\> in the
7th measure, the accompanying F's of this harmony being most
softly played. The pedal should be partially released upon the
sounding of the second tone (Bb) of the second-soprano mel-
ody, and be pressed again after the sounding of each melodic
tone, so as to sustain the tones of the harmony and connect
them with those of the next harmony.
In the first half of measure 7 the most characteristic tone
of the inner voices is Ab, the fifth of the chord, since root and
third are found in bass and melody; as it is also the tone to
which the principal tones of the preceding harmony progress,

thereis every reason that the A b should be brought into promi-
nence as a tone supporting the melody.
EXAMPLE 105
Measures 7, 8, and 9.
(sueas.7) (8)
The measures in the above example contain two somewhat

similar motives. In the arpeggiated chord accompanying the
first motive in this example the most characteristic inner tones
in measure 7 are Gb and Bbb. The Ob progresses in the next

measure to F, the major third of the harmony, which forms
consonant thirds with the bass note Db and with the melodic
tone Ab, and therefore should be played with some importance.
Were the character of the harmony alone to be considered, the
5bb would progress distinctly to A b in the next measure, but, as
the harmonic tendency of the accompanying tones alone is not so
important as is their relation to the melody and a proper sub-
ordination to such a way of playing would here be most unde-
it,
sirable, since would not only take away from the interest of
it
the melodic A\>, but would also make an audible succession of

parallel octaves between #bb and A\> in the melody and an inner
voice. Therefore the tone of the accompanying Bbb should
cease the moment the melodic J3bb is sounded, and the accom-
panying A\> should concede its harmonic rights to A b in the
melody, an octave above.
The next motive, marked smorzando by the composer,
modulates in the 9th measure by means of the dominant seventh
to Bb minor and introduces a return of the original theme.
Although suitably subordinated to the melody, all the tones of
the accompanying harmony in the last half of measure 8 should

be played with considerable emphasis, as they are all harmonic-
ally interesting. The E\> remains stationary and becomes the
seventh of the dominant chord. Through enharmonic change
the #bb becomes A$, leading-tone of the new key; this tone is,
harmonically, the most important of all, because, although it
retains the same pitch in both measures, it is so metamorphosed
in character as to have an altogether different and new harmonic
force. The bass tone (7b progresses to F in measure 9. The
upper-bass tone Db, in measure 8, should move strongly to C
in the same measure, and this C should be so emphasized and
sustained as to avoid the effect of fifths on the accented part of
the measure (between bass and upper-bass, Ob and Db to F
and C), which would occur should the Db move to the C in
measure 9; the second C should be played most softly on this
account.
The theme again commences in the second half of measure
9, the harmonic accompaniment being here actually expressed,
instead of being understood as at the beginning of the piece.
The composition is in general quiet, dreamy, and rather
melancholy, yet does not lack the fire of passion. The first six
notes (Example 102) should be played in such a Chopin's
way as to attract attention to what is to come, tempo rubato
They should be played rubato, and with some emphasis, but
each melodic tone has its own peculiar coloring, different from
that of any of the others, and the beginning of the next measure
israther more subdued and dreamy. The first F in each of the
measures 2, 4, 12, 72, and 74 should be struck with some force,
so as to sound until the closing triplet is played.
In playing the minor seconds, C-Db, Atj-Bb, G\?-F, the C, A
and (7b should be slightly emphasized, as they lean upon the
notes following almost with the character of appoggiaturas,
rhythmically displaced, as is also the case in the succeeding five
variations of the theme, where the harmony is written down,
not merely imagined asin the beginning of the piece.
The light runs, iridescent in effect, should be played softly
and evenly, although not all of the notes have exactly the same
quality, the more expressive being slightly more audible than

the others. The melodic F
should be held by means of the pedal,
and the ornamenting runs should be played so lightly that the
blurring of tone, scarcely perceptible, adds charm, and the final
note of each triplet should have absolutely different coloring
from that of the preceding tone, so as to give almost the effect
of an appoggiatura to the Db in the succeeding measure. Al-
though the notes of the embellishing runs should be perfectly
even, there should at the same time be a syncopated character
to them. An attempt has been made to indicate this by the
dotted-lines, which show that the notes of the two hands are not
played simultaneously, yet that they should preserve the articu-
lation and grouping indicated by the slurs. These are sug-
gestions as to a way of playing these measures, yet the playing
cannot be adequately described in words, and besides, there
are many other modes of playing which equally interpret them.
There should be no rubato in the left hand, the freedom
must be confined to the melody, otherwise the result is dis-
order, not music. Regarding rubato, Mozart wrote to his father
in 1777: "My keeping so accurately in time causes them all
much The left hand being quite independent in the
surprise.
tempo rubato of our adagio, they cannot at all comprehend.
With them the left hand always yields to the right."
Schumann poetically describes the effect of some of
Chopin's music in these words: "Imagine that an Êolian harp

possessed all the scales, and that an artist's hand struck these
with all kinds of fantastic, elegant embellishments, even ren-
dering audible a deep fundamental tone and a softly flowing

upper voice and you will have some idea of his playing. But
it would be a mistake to suppose that he allowed us to hear
every small note in it; it was rather the undulation of the A\>
major chord, brought out more loudly here and there with the
pedal, but exquisitely entangled in the harmony: we followed
a wondrous melody in the sustained tones, while in the middle
voices a tenor voice broke clearly from the chords, and joined in
the principal melody." Liszt, also, speaks of "that floating and
indeterminate contour which so fascinates us in his graceful con-
ceptions"; but he also calls attention to the fact that "richness,

often exuberance, never interferes with clearness; the sculptur-
ing is never disordered; the luxury of ornament never overloads
the chaste tenderness of the principal lines."
Much has been written about the Chopin rubato. His own
"
words have been preserved by his pupils. The left hand should
be like a Capellmeister," said he; "it dare not for a moment
become uncertain and wavering." And again: "Let your
left hand be your conductor and always keep time." His pupil
Mikuli explains the tempo rubato in this way: "While the sing-
ing hand, either irresolutely lingering or as in passionate speech,
eagerly anticipating with a certain impatient vehemence, freed
the truth of the musical expression from all rhythmical fetters,
the other, the accompanying hand, continued to play strictly
in time." Frederick Niecks, in his Life of Chopin, quotes Mme.
Streicher, a Chopin pupil, as follows: "His playing was always
noble and beautiful, his tones always sang, whether in full forte
or in the softest piano. He took infinite pains to teach the pupil
this cantabile way of playing. 'II (or elle) ne sail pas Her deux
notes' was his severest censure. He also required adherence to
the strictest rhythm, hated all lingering and dragging, misplaced
rubatos, as well as exaggerated ritardandos. 'Je vois prie de
vous asseoir,' he said on such an occasion with gentle mockery.
And it is just in this respect that people make such terrible
mistakes in the execution of his works. ...
In the use
had likewise attained the greatest mastery, was
of the pedal he
uncommonly strict regarding the misuse of it, and said re-
peatedly to the pupil, 'The correct employment of the pedal
' '
remains a study for life .
Next in importance to Chopin's own words are perhaps

those of Liszt, whose interpretations of Chopin's works were
sometimes more satisfactory to the composer than his own.
Liszt gave this explanation to a pupil: "Do you see those trees?
The wind plays in the leaves, stirs up life among them, but the
tree remains the same. That is the Chopin rubato." . . .
"Through his peculiar style of performance, Chopin imparted

the constant rocking with the most fascinating effect, thus
making the melody undulate to and fro, like a skiff driven on

over the bosom of tossing waves. This manner of execution,
which set a seal so peculiar upon his own style of playing, was
at first indicated by the term tempo rubato, affixed to his writings,
a tempo agitated, broken, interrupted, a movement flexible, yet

at the same time abrupt and languishing and vacillating as the
flame under the fluctuating breath by which it is agitated. In
his later productions we no longer find this mark. He was
convinced that the performer understood them he would
if
divine this rule of irregularity. All his compositions should

be played with this accentuated and measured swaying and
balancing. It is difficult for those who have not frequently
heard him play to catch this secret of their proper execution.
He seemed desirous of imparting this style to his numerous
pupils, particularly those of his own country."
The most broadly practical as well as the most musicianly
and the most scholarly discussion of this subject which has yet
Paderewski on appeared in print is to be found in Finck's Success
tempo rubato {n Music and How it is Won, in the eight pages
which Paderewski has written for this volume on Tempo Rubato.

This article clarifies all which has been written by others, and
is the greatest utterance upon the subject.
CHAPTER XI
ORCHESTRATION AT THE PIANOFORTE
Raff says that "the elements of Orchestration are those

of painting. The composition per se represents the design; the
melody, the outline; harmony, the light and Elements of
orchestration
shade; and instrumentation, the coloring." These
elements should be as evident in pianoforte playing as in the
rendering of orchestral music. To orchestrate pieces at the
pianoforte needs musicianship; for no matter how fully phrased
and expressively marked a piece may be, there is always much
leftto the performer's knowledge and taste, because adequate
orchestration is impossible of notation in pianoforte music.
In beginning the study of a composition, its general char-
acter, thekey in which it is written, the measure signature and the
figuration should be noted. Then its formal struc-
ture should be analyzed, for, to quote Schumann,
"Only when the form is entirely clear to you will the spirit
become clear." Not only should the general design be observed
(it may be that of Rondo, Sonata, Fugue, or other musical form,
with characteristic divisions, themes, modulations, transitions,
episodes, strettos, codas, etc.), but also the minutest details of
thematic development, the inversions, repetitions, contractions,
augmentations, curtailments, and elaborations of a theme; as
well as the rhythms, phrasings, signs and terms of expression
used.
Of equal importance is the treatment of the melody, for
there is no music without melody. The player must be able to
detect the notes of this voice, even if they are intertwined with
those of many other voices. As has been seen, the melody may
range from very high to very low tones, the notes running
thread-like through the other voices, unrecognized by the
pianist, if be not quickened by theoretical knowl-
his perception
139
140 INTERPRETATION Of PIANO MUSIC.
edge. This intermixture of notes of the different voices may

make even impossible, for the editor to indicate by
it difficult,
marks (such as additional stems, rests, notes of large size, slurs,

accents, etc.) the location of these notes of the melody, upon
the correct rendering of which the beauty of the composition
so largely depends. The melodic notes may be of smaller size
than others, in the form of acciaccatura-grace-notes; or they
may be written as sixty-fourth-notes or as eighth-notes, and yet
be intended by the composer- to be long sustained. But, when
the melody is found, it should be rendered, if cantabile in char-
acter, with such touch as will make the tones richly vocal, in
imitation of human song; if the melody be instrumental in
character, it should be given in imitation of the tone of a violin,
horn, or other instrument, or of a combination of instruments.
Not less essential is it that the expressive tones of the
harmony should be brought out with more prominence than
the less characteristic tones, the bass-tones with
their own and shades, and other
peculiar lights
essential tones which, when given prominence, draw out the
beauties of the harmonies. One should hear the contrapuntal
progression of the different voices, and, more distinctly than less
expressive tones, the dissonances, followed, more softly, by
their resolutions. Often it is the third of the triad, sometimes
poetically called its soul, which is the characteristic tone. But
the selection for tonal prominence of expressive and therefore
important tones of the harmony depends not only upon the
nature of the chords themselves and their mutual relation, but
also upon what melodic tones are played with them and what
characteristic effects are intended by the composer to be pro-
duced.
Music played on the pianoforte depends largely for its
poetry and beauty of interpretation upon the employment of
an expressive variety of tone-color. By instru-
mentation at the pianoforte is meant, not that the
auditor conscious of an imitation of the violoncello, the horn,
is
or the oboe (although this is sometimes the case), but that he

is aware of different qualities of tone. These are attained by
the performer through his vivid preconception of an ideal col-

oring of each tone. If the composition is instrumental in char-
acter, the mental picture which he strives to reproduce upon
the pianoforte is usually an orchestral one, and a finer tonal
varietyis attained than if the player thinks merely of the piano-
tone. Says Berlioz, in Modern Instrumentation and Orches-

"
tration: Considered as a small orchestra in
itself, the piano-
forte should have its
appropriate own
instrumentation. It
evidently has one; and this art forms a portion of the pianist's.
It is his duty, on many occasions, to judge if it be requisite to
render certain parts prominent, while others are left in shadow;
and if he ought to play conspicuously an intermediate passage,
by giving lightness to the upper ornamentals, and less force
to the bass." As a simple illustration of instrumentation at
the pianoforte, let us transcribe for orchestra this pianistic
figure :
EXAMPLE 106
considering it as the first of a long series of measures in which

there is a double organ-point on the same or on different notes,
and a continuous, undulating movement, such as would be
suitable accompaniment to a barcarolle or a slumber-song.
What instruments would sound well? As one of many pos-
sible arrangements, imagine the first two notes, which consti-
tute a double pedal-point in the bass, played by violoncelli,
a.
while another instrument a horn, perhaps takes the same

notes melodically, thus :
Now a violoncello, solo, plays these notes in the tenor:
and the whole presents this appearance :
which is another notation of the original figure, and a more

elaborate representation of the effect desired, which is to be
brought about in playing on the pianoforte by a judicious use
of the pedals and of the fingers.
It is apparent that the instrumentation of but six notes
of accompaniment gives considerable variety of tone-color, and
that even so slight and apparently uninteresting a group of
notes as that in Example 106 may represent not one voice only
but many voices. All of these voices should be played with due
recognition of their relative values and in imitation of their
conceived orchestral character; and all should be subordinated
to the melody when it enters. Orchestral changes of tone-col-
oring should frequently be imagined and imitated in pianoforte
playing, for even if the rendition does not convey to the auditor
by the performer, it does give each voice
the effects striven for
suggestive and individual interest and make of the whole com-
position a well-balanced and characteristic unit. The instru-

mentation should be varied, or the playing will become monoto-
nous. In particular, one should make sparing use of the soft
pedal and of unusual pedal effects of any kind, or they become
tiresome.
Instrumentation is absolutely essential to the correct ren-
dering of piano compositions by Bach, Beethoven and Liszt.
Source of the Although variety of tone-color is equally needed in
poetic the playing of Chopin's music, his compositions
inspiration
are gQ mna^ e jy pianistic that one does not think
of the orchestra in playing them, any more than he did in writing
them. Coloring, in Chopin's works, is to be considered more as
in imitation of orchestral variety of tone than as color orches-

trally conceived; this is, in a measure, true also of Schumann's
works.
The above few principles of pianistic orchestration are
illustrated in two of Mendelssohn's Songs without Words, each
of which is founded, in the main, upon an organ-point. The
Venetian Gondola-Songs in F# minor and in G minor, souvenir
of Mendelssohn's visit to Venice, are fine examples of the regular
form, good harmonies and agreeable melodies of his Songs with-
out Words. Properly to interpret any romantic composition,
the performer must have a vivid idea of it, and the imagination
ishere assisted by the title, which, though it does not aim to
convey specific images, yet suggests the poetry of melody and
ofmotion upon the water. The player cannot but think he sees
the waters of the Grand Canal, reflecting in the soft moon-
light the marble of the Venetian palaces, and the many moving
boats, whose somber coloring serves as a foil to the gaily dressed

and picturesque gondoliers. The sound of music is heard, now
close by, now from a distance; sometimes it is the song of the
gondoliers, again it comes from the occupants of the boats, who

accompany their voices with guitar or mandolin. In some such
surroundings these beautiful little compositions may have been
written, although, as Beethoven remarks in a preface to his
Pastoral Symphony, they are "more expression of feeling than
painting."
As interpretation of a piece of music depends both upon
correct conception of it and upon a mechanical skill sufficient
to convey this conception to others, considerable
attention should be devoted to a minute analysis
of its rhythmic structure, its melody and its harmonies, as well
as to the acquisition of a technic which will enable the performer
to make these elements of orchestration at the pianoforte felt
and enjoyed by the hearer. By means of notes of contrasting
size and blackness; of additional stems, slurs and dynamic
signs, the orchestration that is, the effect desired by the com-
poser is suggested more completely in Examples 112-117
at b than in the original edition at a, which is written, as is cus-
ternary, in the simplest pianistic notation, and consequently

1
with much left to the intuition of the performer.

The song in F# minor, of which the
first seven measures
are given inExample 108, founded upon the keynote, the F$

is
Tonic in the bass; and the harmonies in the third and

pedal-point the fourth measure should not be considered as
dominant harmony with C# for the bass-note, but as dominant
harmony built upon the organ-point F#.
EXAMPLE 107
CHOPIN Berceuse.
In this respect it is somewhat similar in form to Chopin's Ber-
ceuse, where in each of its seventy measures the first Db is the

bass-note for both tonic and dominant chords. If they were
conceived and played as two different chords with different
bass-notes, this poetic and dreamy accompaniment would
sound very thin and commonplace. The bass note Db, marked
with a staccato dot, sounds softly and continuously throughout
the entire composition.
EXAMPLE 108
MENDELSSOHN Gondola-Song, in F# minor.
(meas. 1) (7)
In the Mendelssohn Barcarolle the notes played by the

left hand naturally divide themselves into several voices of
different color values. The lowest F# and C# constitute a

double pedal-point, which, with the undulating and even flow of
the rest of the musical figure in the left hand, sug- Double
gests the rocking and the placid drifting of the pedal-point
boat. The notes of the higher voices move but slightly at
first, then in the fifth and sixth measures progress more
actively. Each voice should have an individual characteristic
coloring.
The tones of most of the voices have a longer duration
than their notation might seem to indicate. The double organ-
point F# and C# and the rest of the accompaniment in the left
hand are more fully notated in Example 109, so as to call
attention to the many voices and their varied coloring.
EXAMPLE 109
Edited notation of measures 1, 2 and 3.
F=F ^
p
(meas.l) (2) (3)
The tones of the moving voices in Example 108 should be

connected. Even if the hand be so small that the fingers cannot
remain upon the keys long enough to sustain one tone until
another is produced, yet the tones can be made to sound legato.
As much as possible the finger should be relied upon for obtaining
legato, supplementing with the damper pedal, which should be
pressed lightly so as to keep the tone pure, for when the pedal is
pressed entirely down, so as to free the strings completely
from the restraint of the dampers, the sympathetic vibration
of all the strings produces many harmonics, some of which,
distantly related to the tone played, intrude upon it, making the
sound too thick and lacking In cantabile playing
in purity.
especially, the pedal should be released and depressed at the

right moment, so as not to blur a single tone. It may be well
at first to study the accompaniment alone, playing it with both
hands, as suggested in Examples 3 and 100, for this will give
the player clearer conception of the harmonies and their pro-
gressions; afterwards the qualities of touch employed by the
two hands should be imitated by the left hand alone. It is
desirable to play the accompaniment in the form both of
chords and of arpeggiated harmonies, so as to enjoy their full
flavor and richness, the essential tones of each harmony, and
their relative dynamic values, as well as to produce a good
balance of all the voices.
EXAMPLE 110
(meas. 33)
In order to mark the reentrance of the first theme in

measure 36, there should be a slight detachment of the notes
Reentry of A and B from those preceding, as indicated by
theme the breath-mark placed between the phrases.
The notes beginning the theme anew should be played with a
firmer touch than those closing the preceding phrase, in imita-
tion of a singer who takes a breath and begins another and an
interesting phrase to which the attention of the auditor is
directed. The crescendo of the trill should not be made too
rapidly nor should too much tone be used, and the final tones
of the trill should not be hurried.
In measure 39 (Example 110) the hand should no longer
be inclined in scale position, as it is here the little finger which
Position of should have a favorable position upon the keys;
hand the wrist may be turned a little inward, weight-
ing the hand slightly on the outside, as though to strike the
sustained C# with the fifth firger before the thumb strikes its
C# an octave below; this, indeed, may actually be done at first,

in practicing, until the position becomes an easy one; the
moving voice, as part of the theme, should be quite prominent.
EXAMPLE 111
In the coda (Example 111) the descending melody,

^, D, C#, B, B, C#, <4, and its repetition in the succeeding
measures, should be heard distinctly and be fuller in tone than
the bass tones, while these last should be more prominent than
their octaves played with the thumb.
EXAMPLE 112
6. Orchestration more fully indicated.
At the close of the piece (112 a) Mendelssohn intends the

full harmony in the third measure from the end to continue
sounding through the succeeding measures, for it would be

a very poor orchestration of this composition to end it with
two F#'s three octaves apart and no intervening
Correct concep-
tion of the harmony; it might remind one of the passage
meaning of the in the Berlioz Requiem which represents the
notation
yawning of hell by means of three flutes and eight
unison trombones and nothing else. Example 112 b shows how
the notes at a should sound. As in Examples 2, 3, 113, 116 and
117, the rests at a are placed by the composer as guides for
the fingers, not for the tone.
EXAMPLE 113
MENDELSSOHN Gondola-song, in G minor.
(7)
6. Orchestration more fully indicated.
The Gondola-song, in G minor, may be orchestrated in a

manner somewhat similar to that of the one in F# minor. The
pedal-point and the rest of the accompaniment in the left
hand should be mentally instrumentated by the student so
as to obtain orchestral coloring when it is played. The G and D
constitute at the same time stationary tones and part of a

melodic figure, as did the F% and C# in the other song. Although
of less prominence than the bass G and the chords orchestration
on the second and fifth beats of the measures, the elaborately
D played by the hand should have throughout notated

left
the piece its own subdued importance, so that in combination

with the bass tone G it may give a vivid impression of the
rocking of the gondola upon the waves. The accompaniment,
as shown by the rests in measure 1, Example 113, as first
played by both hands, is the same as that written in the
seventh and succeeding measures for the left hand alone.
The dots over the G in measure 7 do not in this instance
call for staccato but for slight emphasis; they also help to call
attention to the fact that the notes over which Meaning of
they are placed constitute a voice separate from thc dot

the voices represented by the other notes; and they denote a rest
for the finger, not for the tone. The tones of the accompani-
ment are soft in comparison with those of the melody, yet the
progression of the inner voices of the harmony should be heard,
the upper voice forming a sub-melody in the tenor, as shown
by the large notes in Examples 113 6, 115 b and 117 b.
The expressiveness and consequent value of the sustained
D's should be fully realized. The effect is so beautiful when the
D of the melody is prolonged from the fifth Expressiveness
measure into the seventh, that it should be played of sustained
tone
as shown at b, even though rests be marked. This
D may be imagined as the stroke of a bell coming over the
water to the occupants of the gondola, the prolonged vibrations
fading gradually away into silence.
EXAMPLE 114
b. Edited notation.
(meas.7)
Example 1 14 a continues the composition begun in Example

113 a, and gives an edited notation a fuller orchestration
of the notes played by the right hand at 6. The D in the llth
measure continues sounding until it moves to C on the third
beat of the 13th measure. With a skilled touch the effect of
a sustained D connecting smoothly with C can be obtained,
notwithstanding the renewed attack of the D at the beginning
of measure 13. To attain this effect the D may be sounded
with sonority in measure 11, and held with the pedal while
playing very softly the D written as a quarter-note in measure
13. If desired, the same effect may be produced in some degree
in measure 9, for the melodic D struck in measure 5, Example
113, should still continue to sound faintly in measures 7 and 8.
EXAMPLE 115
Qffi
I Jim.
(meas.32)
6. Edited notation.
In measures 32 and 33 the imitations in the tenor and alto

should be well brought out. The D on the fourth beat of the
thirty-third measure belongs to both tenor and alto, as shown
at b, and should be held in the alto voice until the C is played
on the sixth beat, while, in order not to interfere with this
progression of the voice, the lowest D on the sixth beat of
measure 33 should be played pianissimo, as in measures 9 and
13, Example 114 a.
EXAMPLE 116
(meas,36,
b. Edited notation.
(37)
In Example 116 the right hand should play the D's in

octaves very softly, while, to prevent the harmony from sounding
thin and empty, great prominence should be c=2t silent pres .
given to D and G, which should be sustained as sure of a key
indicated by the dotted-half-notes inserted in the edition of

the passage given at b. After playing the last octaves in the
right hand in measure 39, the sustained Dand G should be pro-
longed by the finger instead of by the pedal, which, when
raised at the beginning of measure 40, will release the G. as
demanded by the above notation, while the finger sustains the
tone D. The sign CIZ] indicates the silent pressure of a finger
upon a key which previously has been struck and released by

the finger while the tone produced was sustained by the pedal.
The tone can be prolonged independently of the pedal by this
silent pressure of a key, and the sign for its use is given in
measures 37 and 39. Further explanation of this effect is given
with Examples 152, 153 and 154. The counter-melody hi the
tenor should not be ignored, especially in measures 38 and 39,
where, if the third of the triad, #[?, is not well brought out,
the harmony sounds bare too much a la Palestrina to be
suitable to this style of composition. That Mendelssohn desired
sustained tone in these measures is indicated by his words,
sempre pedale, in measure 36. (See sempre pedale, in Chapter XII,
The Pedals.)
A composition performed without variety of tone is far
from enjoyable. What an unendurable effect if this composition
Orchestral
were played by wood- wind only! Of all orchestral
coloring. instruments it is to the strings alone that we are
instrumentation
content to listen long w t h out
i
desiring other
coloring. How we enjoy string quartets! It follows that in
playing on the pianoforte, which is the orchestra of the pianist,

if he would not become tedious the performer must have fine
color contrast. Where the D

is prolonged through several
measures it may sometimes be imagined as begun by a horn

and then continued by the wood-wind, by this means changing
the color without, apparently, a fresh attack of tone an
effect very common in orchestral music.
EXAMPLE 117
1.
= >* =
(meas.42)
b. Edited notation.
3 ^
J. J^^
m
(meas.42)
The whole piece is purely instrumental in character, and

so each of the final D's in measures 44 and 45 should have a
special color and should be supported by the superlegato har-
mony The first melodic D may be
of the preceding measure.
imagined as played by the horn and the second as an echo by

?
the clarinets. The D's in the next to the last measure may be
attacked with the third finger, which may lie rather flatly on
the key and be drawn off forward with a downward pressure
from gradually raised wrist and forearm. This touch gives fresh
color to the tone, which may be modified still further by trilling
the pedal lightly, so as to change the quantity and quality of
the vibrations and yet to sustain the bass and accompanying
tones. The D measure might be similarly played,
in the last
but with less pressure, softly, and with a very leisurely
more
stroke of the finger upon the key. The soft pedal may be
employed, more to obtain its inherent peculiar coloring than to
aid in the pianissimo. The final bass-note, G, should not have
such prominence that it seems to descend melodically from the D
played by the right hand, for the composer desires, not a perfect
close on the tonic, but a close with the fifth as final melodic tone.
This beautiful effect is often destroyed by the ignorant or care-
less player, just as in the singing of the tragic song, In Questa
Tomba, the effect desired by Beethoven is sometimes entirely
lostby the descent of the voice from the closing fifth indicated
to the tonic, the singer forgetting that liberties which may be
taken with a light trifle are out of place in a great composition.
CHAPTER XII
THE PEDALS
Rubinstein with doubtful rhetoric but very deep signifi-

cance calls the pedal. the soul of the pianoforte. He says: "I
The soul of the consider the art of properly using the pedal as the
piano most difficult problem of higher piano playing;
and if we have not yet heard the piano at its best, the fault
possibly lies in the fact that it has not been fully understood
how to exhaust the capabilities of the pedal. . The more I
. .
play the more thoroughly I am convinced that the pedal is the

soul of the piano; there are cases where the pedal is everything."
Owing to the ever-increasing sonority of the modern piano-
forte, the possibilities inherent in the pedals have been rapidly
Development of developed during the last half-century and espe-
the piano
cially in the last generation, for it is due to the
augmented tone-power of the piano that the pedal mechanism
for controlling the quantity, quality and duration ofsound is
continually being improved by the best piano-makers. Many
patents hitherto possessed exclusively by a great piano-house
have recently expired, and the number of medium-priced pianos
with facilities for artistic performance hitherto found only in
those of the most expensive makes is growing steadily. These
instruments demand of the performer not only manual dex-
terity but also a highly developed pedal technic.
Accurate knowledge of the purposes of the pedals and of
the means employed by artists to achieve those purposes are
Pedal usage necessary to the twentieth-century pianist, for
difficult to teach
while artistic use of the pedals is a gift, the correct
use should be acquired by every pianist; and much that popu-
larly passes as artistic employment of the pedals dependent
upon talent consists merely in a correct use which may be
acquired by any one who is properly taught. When we take
154
into consideration the enormous mass of exercises and studies

written for the education of the fingers in piano playing, it
seems a little remarkable that so few works are devoted to the
training of the music student in a correct use of the pedal, for
the art of properly managing the pedal is the most difficult
problem of higher piano playing. This fact must in the near
future call forth the supply as it has already brought the
demand for systematized relating to the pianoforte
studies
pedals, for teachers are beginning to appreciate the Russian
master's declaration: "Of all the elements of a correct per-
formance upon the piano, I consider the proper use of the
pedal as the most difficult to acquire and to impart. It pertains
strictly to the higher art of piano playing. The best of us
have room for improvement in this direction. If, as I believe,
we have not yet heard the best of which the piano is capable,
it is because the artistic possibilities which lie in the pedal have
not as yet been fully understood by either pianists or composers

for the piano." Yet, although of all forms of piano technic
the control of the pedal is the most difficult to acquire and to
impart, even now, in so far as the writer has been able to ascer-
tain, there are but few publications which treat of the subject,
either as a side issue in a scant few pages, or more fully in
special handbooks.
The authorities of the first half of the nineteenth century,
Mozart's pupil Hummel and Beethoven's pupil Czerny, each
in his Grand School for the Pianoforte devotes Bibliography of
the pedals
chapters to the use of the pedal of his day, but
these books are now of but little practical value as guides to
the student of piano playing, although historically they are of
great interest to the musician, as are also the historical surveys
of pedal mechanism and development found in The History of
the Pianoforte by the late A. J. Hipkins, and his various articles
in Grove's Dictionary of Music and in the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
The first modern musician to write about and give exer-
cises for the pedal was Louis Kohler, who
in the first volume of
"
his Systematische Lehrmethode, published in 1856, laid down
definite principles for the use of the pedal." This work he

followed, in 1861, with Der Klavier Unterricht, in which he de-
Kohier's
vo ^ es a chapter of eight pages to Der Pedalge-
pioneer
works on the branch, and makes reference to the pedal in scat-
tered paragraphs. His Technische Kunstlerstudien,
Op. 147, Vol. I, contains nineteen pages of studies for the
"
pedal. Of this last Liszt wrote to the author in 1875: The
entrance of the pedal after the striking of the chords as
indicated by you to the utmost extreme, seems an to me
ingenious idea, the application of which
greatly to be
is
recommended to pianoforte players, teachers and composers,

especially in slow tempi. In 1882 Kohler published Der
Klavier Pedalzug, seine Natur und kunstlerische Anwendung
(The Pedal, its Nature and Artistic Application), a pamphlet
of 132 pages embodying and extending the teachings of his
previous works. It is greatly to be regretted that this
original and valuable work is not obtainable in the English

language.
The only comprehensive treatise on the pedals of the
modern pianoforte is that of Hans Schmitt, of the Conservatory
Hans schmitt's of Vienna. Published in the German language
book in 1875, was translated into English eighteen
it
years later by Frederick S. Law, and published under the title

of The Pedals of the Pianoforte. This is a masterly scientific
treatise which clearly explains the mechanism of the pianoforte
action and the theory of vibration in so far as it applies to
pianoforte playing. The book contains original examples of
various functions of the pedals including the utilization of har-
monics, and many short illustrative extracts from classic music.
It covers the entire field of theoretical pedal study, and will
remain the standard work so long as there are no radical changes
in or additions to the pianoforte as we know it. Nothing new
has been added to this branch of pedal literature, but several
books have appeared, some of which are excellent, though none
have added materially to what is to be found in Schmitt's great
work, concerning which Liszt wrote: "It is well known how
much mischief is done to the piano both with hands and feet.
May your instructive pamphlet on the right use of the pedal

duly benefit pianoforte players."
Schmitt refers to a brochure which the author has been
unable to obtain UAme du Piano, by Alfred Quidant. There
are also a dozen admirable pages concerning the other theoretical
treatises
pedals in Adolf Kullak's Êsthetics of Pianoforte
Playing, and some good suggestions in his Art of Touch.
Albert F. Venino is the author of A Pedal Method, which was
published in 1893, and the year 1897 produced A Guide to the
Proper Use of the Pianoforte Pedals, with examples from out of
the historical concerts of Anton Rubinstein, translated from the
German by John A. Preston, and The Pedals, two books by
Hugh A. Kelso. Julius R. Weber published in The Musician
for December, 1903, a monograph on Methods and Signs for
the Use of the Pianoforte Pedals; Frederick S. Law in The Musical
Observer of June and July, 1910, has eight columns entitled A
Study of the Damper Pedal and Its Significance in Artistic
Piano Playing; Marie Prentner has four pages on Pedal-
ing in her book The Leschetizky Method, 1903; Malwine Bree
in her book The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method, 1902,
has three pages on The Pedal, and Marie Unschuld, in The
Pianist'sHand, 1909, gives four pages to the use of the pedal.
On the same subject is a chapter of thirteen pages in Funda-
mental Technics, by Mason and Mathews, Ditson, 1905, and
Clayton Johns in his Essentials of Piano Playing, Ditson, 1909,
devotes five pages to the pedal. Eight pages of vital and
practical value in regard to pedal usage are contained in
Josef Hofmann's Piano Playing, 1908. These publications are
all interesting to read, and are of value to the experienced
musician, but they are not systematized books of instruction
containing ample material for practice.
The only exhaustive work published on the subject is that
of Albino Gorno, of the College of Music of Cincinnati. His
work, the first edition of which was published in Albino Gomo's
1894 and the last in 1900, is entitled Material pedal studies
for the Study of the Pianoforte Pedals, and may be called the
practical counterpart of Schmitt's complete theoretical treatise.
It is in three parts. Part I deals exclusively with the damper

pedal; Part II introduces the soft pedal used alone
and in combination with the damper pedal; Part III
(in manuscript) adds to these the use of the sostenuto
pedal and, besides original studies of great interest,
gives as examples classic and modern compositions entire,
which illustrate all possible effects producible by the pedals
singly and together, in connection with touches of dif-
ferent kinds. The studies are simple but musical, and
first
consist in connecting chords by means of the pedal, the use

of which is indicated by Kohler's precise notation. By
natural gradations the pupil is exercised in all uses of the pedals,
even those little known to pianists in general. This is the only
published work hi which the indicated use of the pedals is
obligatory to a correct rendering of the music, the fingers alone
being unable to obtain the desired effects. While examining
this work in manuscript, in 1888, the eminent pianist Rosenthal
smilingly exclaimed: "Why, you have here noted down for the
use of pupils many effects which I had thought were secrets of
my own." Hans von Biilow also expressed profound interest
hi these studies, especially in those written for the sostenuto
pedal.
There are other publications intended for the use of
students, all of interest, but none of these add anything to
what is found in the seventy-five pages of the Gorno Pedal

Studies, and no one else covers the ground nearly so thoroughly;
and in no other pedal work is there such genuine flow of
spontaneous melody and delightful harmony.
The other works intended for students' practice are Dr.
Hugo Riemann's Studies in Pedal Usage, Op. 39, Book V, 1895;
other pedal Arthur Whiting's Pianoforte Pedal Studies, 1904;
studies Arthur Foote's Two Pianoforte Pedal Studies,
1885; Felix Smith's 36 Short Pedal Studies, 1899; Orla Rosen-
hoff's Little Studies for the Pedal; KunkePs Piano Pedal Method,
1893; Jessie Gaynor's First Pedal Studies, 1906; W. S. Sprankle's

The Piano Pedal, 1894; Ludwig Schytte's Pedal Studies, 1894;
W. S. B. Mathews's School of the Piano Pedal, Ditson, 1906;
Carl Faelten's Pedal Exercises for the Pianoforte, 1900, and

Mrs. A. M. Virgil's The Piano Pedals, 1912.
The modern player who is ambitious of commendable art
must not be content with a haphazard use of the pedal and with
clever imitation. The study of the pedals is Definite knowi-
exacting and requires accurate knowledge of the edge
desirable
action of the piano, thorough understanding of the music to be

played, a definite conception of the effect to be produced, and
why this effect is a desirable or an indispensable one. It is
indeed surprising how little the average student of piano playing
concerns himself with the mechanism of his instrument, yet
some knowledge of the action and function of keys, hammers and
dampers is essential before attempting to employ the pedals.
The cut on page 160 is from a photograph of a working-
section of the action of a grand piano. The supporting black
framework below and to the right of the action is not found
in the piano, but is used here merely to hold this small section
of the action together and to form a place of attachment for
the few inches of horizontal wire string shown in the upper
right-hand corner of the picture.
In the middle and upper registers of the piano there are
three unison strings to each tone. In a lower register there are
two unison strings to a tone, and the lowest tones K eys, ham-
are produced from one string. Each key (K) is a mers dampers
lever which, when pressed by the finger, acts upon other

levers and raises simultaneously a hammer (H) and a damper
(D). The oval hammer, which lies below either one string or
below two or three unison strings, is made of rather hard felt
stretched upon a wooden hammer-head. The damper (D),
which lies upon the string (S) or unison strings, consists of
cushions of very soft felt depending from a wooden damper-
head which is upheld by a vertical wire (DW), as is shown at the
right of the figure. When a key is struck its hammer rises
and comes into more or less forceful contact with the corre-
sponding string, causing it to vibrate and produce a musical
tone, and at the same time the damper is raised from the
string, leaving it free to vibrate so long as the finger remains
L
upon the key, although the sound gradually dies away. When
the finger is removed from the key before vibration has ceased,
the damper falls upon the string, stopping sound instantly.
The final motion of the hammer attack upon the string is

caused by the slipping of the piece of wood known as the jack
(J), under and back of a cylindrical roller (R) of
iii-
buckskin-covered
ic i,
lelt.
T ,1 MI ,-
In the illustration its
Repetition action
,
circular end is to be seen just under the stem of the hammer,

and touching it, below, is the jack, which is always perpendicu-
lar to the hammer-stem (HS) when, as here, the key is not
pressed and the hammer remains at its lowest point. When the
key is pressed down, the jack, after causing the hammer to
strike the string, escapes back of the roller, and the hammer
remains at rest at some point nearer the string than is shown in
the figure. This upward movement of the j ack against the roller
and escapement behind it completes the blow of the hammer in
every case, no matter how the key is touched or what quality
of toneis produced. If the finger presses the key rather slowly,
the weight of the hammer is felt in its resistance to the move-
ment of the jack as it passes under the roller. This slight
weight, which is experienced in the touch of all good pianos, is
an unerring guide to the trained finger, especially in cantabile

playing, and through proper management of it much refinement
of tone may be obtained. The roller and the jack are parts of
the mechanism which make it possible to repeat a tone quickly
and as many times as desired; for when the key is allowed to
rise but slightly, although the jack slips back into its former
position, the hammer does not return to its original place, but
remains very near the strings; and the damper remaining off
the strings, there is no discontinuance of tone between repeated
strokes of the same key.
It is the function of the damper pedal to raise all the dam-
pers (D) from all the strings upon which they lie, and also to
lower the dampers upon the strings. The dampers
. Damper pedal
are raised by pressing the foot upon the pedal, and
are lowered by removing the pressure. All tones sounding or
produced while the pedal is pressed down will continue until
pedal pressure is removed, when the soft felt of the dampers

falling upon the strings instantly checks vibration and stops
the sound. In the figure the forefinger has been used to move
that part of the action which in the pianoforte proper is moved
by pedal pressure, and consequently the dampers are shown
raised from the strings.
The fingers and the pedal are interdependent. Preceding
examples have shown that there are many effects which can be
Pedal effects ob- accomplished only when the pedal is applied to
tained by fingers connect or to sustain tone. The reverse also is
true, thatmany fine and indispensable effects of sustained tone
would be impossible were it not for a clever and silent manipu-
lation of fingers upon keys previously struck so as to cause
an uninterrupted continuance of tone which the damper pedal
had sustained. Such effects of tone sustained by the fingers
instead of by the pedal might well be called pedal effects
obtained by the fingers, for this phrase helps to recall the fact
that while the pedal is a lever by means of which all the
dampers are raised collectively from the strings and are
lowered upon them, each key also is a lever which raises and
lowers a single one of these dampers in the same manner as
the damper pedal raises and lowers them all. In other words,
the pedal is a complete damping mechanism operated by the
foot, and each key, besides being a tone-producing medium,
is a partial damping mechanism operated by the fingers.
A downward pressure of the pedal raises all the dampers
from all the strings. A downward pressure of any one key,
whether or not productive of tone, raises one damper from the
one string or from the two or three unison strings upon which
it lies.
A key can be pressed down quickly or slowly, with much or

with little force, and with various gradations and combinations of
speed and force. As long as a key is depressed, even slightly, by
the finger, the damper remains somewhat raised above the string
and the hammer does not fall back quite to its original position.
The more rapidly and the more vigorously a key is depressed,
the more martellato and attacked the resultant tone, and the
further the hammer rebounds fromthe strings, there being, in

good pianos, several different places of rest for the hammer,
which are the result of different ways of attacking the key
and of keeping the finger in control of the key after depressing
it. A hammer is at lowest point and greatest distance from
its
the strings when the key is not depressed by the finger. A

rather slow and not too vigorous depression of the key, the finger
remaining on it, leaves the hammer very near to the strings,
which by means of controlled key-pressure may be sounded
with sonority and with a minimum of hammer-attack on strings
and of finger-attack upon key, sounds which often mar the
tone produced. A quicker and more forcible depression of the
key drops the hammer to a point of rest between these two
just mentioned.
It is frequently stated in print that the quality of a tone
once produced cannot be altered by further manipulation of
the key which produced it. Nothing could be variety of tone
farther from the truth. Much variety is produced producible after
by this
very means, as can be both heard and seen stnking key
in the playing of artists and especially in the interpretations of
those wizards of the keyboard who enchant by masterly ren-
dering of a poetic conception.
When key-pressure has produced tone by causing the ham-
mer to strike and the damper to rise from the string or unison
strings, this tone, while gradually dying away, may be sustained

and much altered in quality and somewhat altered in quantity
through judicious and several times repeated use of the pedal in

rapid alternation with silent finger-pressure upon the key,
since both of these are methods which keep the damper
raised. The tone generated while the pedal is pressed down
is full, and vibrant with overtones, since the pedal
rich
keeps raised from the strings not only the one damper but
all the dampers, and many sympathetic harmonics arise from
the freed strings. When the finger is the means employed

to sustain the tone, but one damper is kept raised and the
tone elicited is consequently very pure and clear and some-
what dry.
All good things are threefold, says the old proverb: in

modern pianos there are usually three pedals, called respect-
ivel y First Pedal D amper Pedal, or simply Pedal;
>
Gradual develop-
ment of modem Second, or Soft Pedal; Third, Sostenuto or
pedal usage
Sustaining Pedal. The damper pedal is to the
player's right side and when pressed raises the dampers col-
lectively. The soft pedal is that on the left side. If one should
ask: "Of what use are these pedals?" fifty out of a hundred
music students and ninety-nine per cent of the laity would
answer: "The one on the right is the loud pedal, and is used
to make the music sound loud; the one on the left makes it
soft." But these are only rudimentary uses of the pedals,
and are not even the most important ones. The term loud pedal,
never correct, is not appropriate, for the damper pedal, although
often used to strengthen the sound, has, besides, many other
more important uses, one of which is its employment in connec-
tion with the soft pedal in pianissimo passages, to give the
tone warmth and color.
It is true that when the art of piano-building was in its in-
fancy the main service the damper pedal performed was to

Primitive increase the volume of sound, for the tone of the
damper pedal early pianos was so weak and evanescent that
sympathetic vibration of all the strings was often needed.
Thinness of harmony and dryness of melody would have re-
sulted from a too frequent application of the dampers to the
strings. Even as late as the early part of the nineteenth century
allthe dampers were often kept raised from the strings through-
out many measures and regardless of the consequent blurring,
in order to obtain sufficient tone.
Beethoven used the pedal freely in order to obtain the best
effect of a tone-sustaining and songful legato. He told Czerny
^na^ ne nad once neai% d Mozart play the piano
Beethoven's
legato with the and that his touch was delicate, but that he had
a choppy style and no legato. This may have
been on account of the action of the piano used by Mozart,
which made strict legato impossible; but the remark gives us
an idea of Beethoven's great fondness for legato in imitation
of organ-effect, which Czerny says Beethoven seemed to produce

in his playing.
EXAMPLE 118
BEETHOVEN Largo, from C minor Concerto.

senza sordino a pianissimo c
Czerny remarks in his correspondence with Cocks, a Lon-

don publisher: " Legato in cantabile on the piano was at that
time unknown, and Beethoven was the first to discover entirely
new and impressive effects on that instrument." This new
legato playing was produced with the pedal. We can have no
doubt of this, as Czerny says that "Beethoven, in playing the
Largo of his C minor Concerto, allowed the pedal to remain down
throughout the whole theme. This could be done very well on
the weak-sounding pianos of that time (1800), especially when
the una cor da pedal was also used. But now, as the tone of the
modern piano has become much stronger, we should advise a re-
newed pressure of the pedal at every important change in the
harmony, so that no defect may be noticeable in the sound."
This use of the pedal in a cantabile passage played on our
twentieth-century full-toned pianos would cause a blurring of
the melody and a confusion of harmonies which would be a
barbarous violation of good taste; but from what Czerny says
we understand that in Beethoven's music the pedal should be

used as in other works, to sustain harmonies and to connect
melodic tones without blurring them. This manner of playing
is indispensable in cantabile passages and movements, if the
intention of the composer be fulfilled. Besides the absolute

legato required by the cantilena in this slow movement from
the Concerto, in C minor, the effect to be imagined in the
accompanying voices, regarding sustaining of tones (by
means either of fingers or of pedal) is that of a string quartet
,
or of an orchestra. The composer did not intend that more

rests should be made than he has written down, and the
enormous difficulty of connecting with the fingers all the
tones of the different voices necessitates especial attention to
this branch of piano playing, which is of much musical im-
portance.
The marked improvement in the efficiency of the damping
apparatus which was commonly used shortly after the period
ow custom of f ^
e composition of the C minor Concerto was
using pedal once accompanied with a greater reserve in the use of
in each measure
^ p e( j a i ^his became more and more necessary
j
as the resonance of the piano increased, until, for those who used
rules more than they did their ears, custom established the habit
of renewing the pressure of the pedal with every measure, still,
however, regardless of changes in harmony and dissonant tones

in the melody.
The next step towards our modern standard of pedal usage
was that mentioned by Czerny to renew the pedal-pressure
with every important harmonic change, although
Greater reserve
in use of pedal
melodic purity was still disregarded. This way
of playing was long continued, and numerous examples may be
found even in modern editions of Field's Nocturnes, Heller's
Etudes and thousands of other compositions in editions which
but for the wrongly placed pedal-marks are good editions. For
the notation endures to the present day, although no good player
observes these marks as they are written. Apropos of this stage
of development of pedal-usage are the pedal-marks in the fol-
lowing composition.
EXAMPLE 119
FIELD Nocturne, in Eb.
While it is largely due to the continually increasing so-
nority of the piano that pedal-marks which were once approxi-

mately satisfactory can no longer be relied upon care .
Composers
,
to assist the player, there is another prolific less use of pedal-

r
source of incorrect pedal notation, which is, the
exceeding labor and difficulty of indicating with accuracy the
exact moment of pedal-attack and pedal-release. Rubinstein's
solution of this problem was to rely upon the musicianship of
the performer, and he therefore left his compositions as bare of
all marks of expression as are those of Bach. Liszt, however,
often indicated the use of the pedal, and always with exceeding
power and nicety. Many more modern composers imitate him
in this, notably Sgambati and Chaminade, but unhappily the
majority of composers and editors, as well as engravers, are even
in this latter day careless in their pedal notation.
EXAMPLE 120
MENDELSSOHN Song without Words, Op. 67, No. 1.
semprecolPed.
In Peters's edition of Mendelssohn's Song without Words, in

F major, Op. 85, and in the one in Eb, Op. 67, the pedal is marked
in such a manner that on a modern piano a faithful following of

the marks would produce very bad effects of blurring the tones
Damperscon-
^ ^
e melody, many of which are foreign to the
trolled by fingers harmony; but a more discreet use calculated to
avoid such blurring can be adopted only in com-
bination with a well-thought-out sustaining of bass, upper bass
and harmony tones. This can be done by substituting one
finger for another on a key before allowing the key to rise, as
described in connection with Example 124, thus sustaining as
many tones as possible with the fingers, while the pedal is pressed
and allowed to rise as often as is necessary to avoid blurring the
melody. If this sustaining of all the tones of the harmony
(suggested by the composer's pedal-marks) is not obtained, the
dry and fulness of harmony is sacrificed.
effect is
The above-mentioned manner is the only means to solve
the hard problem which confronts the modern player in almost
incorrectly every piece, namely, the necessity of sacrificing

marked pedal neither the richness of harmony nor the clearness
of melody. This leaves the composer or the editor
so perplexed that he usually either marks the pedal entirely too
much, anpl incorrectly, or not at all so that in any case the
;
player must have sufficient experience to divine the intention

of the composer, and to treat the pedal, in combination with
the touch, in such a way that the intended effect is satisfactorily
produced. The best pianists of today, in playing cantabile
passages, blur neither the melody nor the harmony, but
manage, by a judicious use of the fingers as well as of the
pedal, to render the harmony full and the melody pure. It is
an astonishing fact that in the Pedal Studies of Schytte all
the pedal-marks are wrongly placed. For instance, in the ex-
ample given below, observance of the pedal-marks would
disconnect the legato harmonies and render them staccato,
while the melody tones would be staccato in some places and
badly blurred in others, manifestly contrary to the intention
of the composer. There are also several other collections of
pedal studies by less distinguished musicians that have similar
errors.
EXAMPLE 121
SCHYTTE Pedal Study III.
Molto moderate ..
i^ +-J-
p cantabile dim.
T
ffi I T
Sa. *
The management of the dampers in sustaining and con-
necting sound by means of the fingers alone should be mastered
before attempting to control the dampers by The damper
means of the pedal, the function of which is thus P edal
stated by Albino Gorno: "The correct use of the damper-pedal
consists in controlling the dampers by means of the foot, so as
to obtain certain desirable results which the fingers alone cannot
produce."
Pedal effects are of two general classes first, tone-sustaining
:
and connecting; second, tone-coloring. Not only are there

many poetic effects which the fingers cannot accomplish unaided,
but the employment of the pedal is often imperative to the
"
correct musical rendition. All that can be taught," says Signer
Gorno, "is merely correct usage. To speak of teaching an

use of the pedals is as unsuitable as it would be to speak
artistic
of teaching an artistic use of chords, in the practical school of
the harmony teacher."
It not infrequently happens that a tone should continue
sounding for some time after it is necessary to remove the

finger from the key which produced it, when of Managementof
course the finger can no longer be the tone-sus- dampers by
s fin ersalone
tainingmedium. Instead, the foot becomes the
agent which keeps the damper raised by pressing down
the damper-pedal before the finger is removed from the key
which is producing the tone; thus the string continues free to
vibrate and emit sound so long as the pedal-pressure is main-
tained.
One of the aims of every pianist is the attaining of as good

a legato as compatible with the nature of his instrument,
is
which, besides being somewhat short-toned, has

the disadvantage that every tone is produced by
an attack of the hammer upon the strings, while true legato
consists in the connection of unattacked tones. This true legato,
of course, is impossible to obtain in piano-playing, yet it should
be imitated. "He does not know how to connect two notes,"
was Chopin's severest censure of a pupil's playing. Legato in
pianoforte playing consists in sustaining a tone until another

tone is produced, so that connection of the two tones ensues,
while the sound of the attackis minimized. All modern pianists
are agreed that as a rule the pedal-pressure should be applied
after the key is struck; this is sometimes called "after-ped-
aling," and sometimes, most incorrectly, is termed "syncopation
of the pedal." If the pedal is applied simultaneously with the
finger-stroke when it is desired to connect two tones of different

pitch, the result is not a connection but an over-connection,
a superlegato of the two tones which would both sound
together contrary to the player's intention. In songful passages
the pedal should not be pressed fully down, as this frees too
many harmonics through the sympathetic vibration of the other
strings and impairs purity of tone; a slight pressure is usually
sufficient unless great volume of tone or long-sustained tone be
required. The method of pressing the pedal will of course

depend somewhat upon the length of the player's foot. To
obtain the leverage necessary, either the ball of the foot or, if
the player's foot be of insufficient length, the toes, should be
placed quietly on the pedal before pressing it, so as to avoid the
noise which would otherwise result from the sudden contact of
foot with pedal. The foot should remain in full control of the
pedal as it rises,and should not be suddenly removed, as the
dampers abruptly on the strings and the pedal mechanism
falling
striking against its wooden support make sounds which annoy
the hearer and distract his attention from the music being
played. Neither should the pedal remove the dampers violently
from the strings, as this sets them slightly in motion and their
vibration causes an indefinite, rolling noise. "You beat the

drum," was a master's whimsical rebuke to a pupil who was
guilty of these faults in pedaling.
The use of the damper-pedal (first pedal) is often essential
to connect tones or chords so distant from each other that,
although marked legato, the fingers necessarily Pedal used to
play them staccato. In the following example destroy finger-

l
it is impossible to connect the slurred legato
chords by means of the fingers, as unwritten and undesired

rests occurwhen the fingers are removed from one key to
another, causing a break in the continuity of sound undesired
by the composer. When the pedal is properly used these unde-
sired rests are obliterated and the chords are connected.
EXAMPLE 122
GORNO Material for the Study of the Pianoforte Pedals,

Part I, No. 4.
Moderate
'Lftn *l
down and when allowed to

rise. The measure should be
counted aloud, and these figures written above the
1, 2, 3, 4,
pedal-line help to show most definitely the moment of pedal

pressure, which in this exercise occurs on the third beat of each
measure. The chord played by the fingers on the first beat of
the first measure is sustained through the third and the fourth
beat by the pedal; therefore, immediately after the third beat,
the fingers are not needed to sustain the tone and can be removed
from the keys and placed upon the keys of the next chord, so as
to be prepared to play it on the first beat. As soon as this
prepared chord in the second measure is heard, connection of
the two chords is made and the pedal should be released so as
to avoid blurring them. The slow tempo in which this study
first should be played allows plenty of time for the ear to make
sure that the chord is sounding and that but one chord is sus-
tainedby pedal-pressure. Besides the graphic signs of pedal-
usage indicated by the notes and rests on the pedal-line
the customary rather vague signs of Fed. and & are written
above the music correctly.
It is often impossible to sustain the full harmony with the
fingers alone, especially when it is in the form
spread harmony of wide-spread arpeggiated harmonies such as are
sustained by characteristic of the works of Chopin, Schumann
pedal
and Liszt, in which case the pedal is the only
means of producing the superlegato required.
EXAMPLE 123
GORNO Pedal-Studies, Part I, No. 28.

In Example 123 the pedal should be pressed directly after the

bass-note is struck, so as to sustain it and all succeeding tones
of the same harmony; as soon as the bass-tone A\> is connected
to the next bass-tone in the succeeding harmony, the pedal
should be released, as indicated by the eighth-rest; then, while
the bass-tone is held by means of the fingers, the pedal should be
pressed down on the second eighth of the second measure, so as

to sustain this new bass-tone and the harmony founded upon it.
As before, the moments of pedal-pressure and of pedal-release
are defined with nicety by means of the rests and notes on the
pedal-line.
A judicious fingering has much to do with a correct use of
the pedal. It frequently happens that bass and inner voices
should be sustained, yet that the purity of the WeU_
thought.
melodic tones should not be marred by the great out fingering
*
number which form in continually

of overtones
increasing numbers from the moment when a tone is held by
the pedal until the pedal is released by the foot. In cantabile
passages it is often best to hold these accompanying tones with
the fingers until the moment when they are obliged to release
the keys, thereby delaying the use of the pedal.
EXAMPLE 124
CHOPIN-LISZT Meine Freuden.
In this orchestral passage from Liszt's transcription of one

of Chopin's songs it is necessary to sustain tones of the arpeg-
giated harmony in the left hand and also to use the pedal afresh
with each tone of the melody in the right hand. An un-

blurred melody accompanied by a sustained bass and accom-
shiftin of panying full harmony may be obtained by com-

fingers upon a bining pedal effect of sustained tone produced by
means of the foot with the pedal effect of sustained
tone produced by means of the fingers. The fifth finger should
be substituted swiftly for the thumb on the second and fourth
keys struck with the left hand, so as to sustain longer the upper
bass-tones and following tones by means of the fingers. In the
second measure the foc^th finger is similarly shifted upon the
second and fourth keys struck. Such substitution of one finger
for another is a very useful device continually and almost invol-
untarily applied by good players to sustain tone and at the same

time to prepare the fingers to produce other tones. The Men-
delssohn Song without Words, in E\>, Example 120, can only be
played by a similar substitution of one finger for another.
EXAMPLE 125
GORNO Pedal Studies, Part II, No. 7.
When solid chords are connected, this shifting of the
fingers often takes place simultaneously in several voices at

once, as is shown in Example 125, which gives comparatively
simple material for practice of this very necessary form of finger
technic. At the beginning of the study the fingers alone make
the connection of tone and the crescendo, and towards the close
the power of tone is augmented from / to ff and the quality of
tone changed by the use of the pedal.
EXAMPLE 126
DEBUSSY Arabesque, in E major.
42 51 * 2
A is very suitable for the

shifting fingering left hand in the
closing measures of Debussy's Arabesque, in E major. The

fingering in the right hand greatly facilitates the playing on
account of the desirable inward inclination of the wrist which it
necessitates. The tones sustained by the left hand make pos-
sible skilled and sufficiently frequent slight pressures of the
pedal.
In his studies from Caprices by Paganini, Schumann indi-
cates a simultaneous shifting of two fingers in chord connection
similar to that in Example 125, and gives many Schumann's
instances of a single shift upon one key. He says fingering :
"The editor further calls attention to the silent substitution of

fingers on a single key, which often makes a fine effect, and
to the wide arpeggios of the left hand, requiring a wise use of
the pedal, which is intrusted to the thoughtful player. He has
indicated a very exact and carefully thought out fingering as the
fundamental basis of an able performance. The student should
therefore above all pay attention to this. If, however, the
playing is also to be technically fine he should strive for swing

and softness of tone, for rounding and precision of the separate
parts, and for flow and lightness of the whole. Then after over-
coming all external difficulties the fantasy will be able to move
safelyand sportively and to give life, light and shade and easily
to complete whatever else might be lacking to a freer presen-
tation of the work. The examples here given are intended only
to call attention to similar ones. The editor even advises
advanced players to practise but seldom exercises from Methods
for the Piano, but rather to invent their own. ... In No. 5, 1
intentionally omitted all signs of delivery, that the student

might search the heights and depths for himself. For testing
the pupil's conceptional faculty this procedure would seem very
well adapted."
EXAMPLE 127
SCHUMANN Papillons, Op. 2, No. 12.
Schumann gives examples to illustrate the quick releasing,

Oneof one by one, of the tones of the harmony, by a
Schumann's method which he also employs in the final cadence
of the Papillons, shown in Example 127, and at
the close of the Grandfather's Dance.
EXAMPLE 128
PADEREWSKI Minuet a V antique.
Although he does not in any way indicate it on the printed
page, Paderewski employs this manner of playing the Cadenza

Paderewski's of his own Minuet a I'antique, in order to enrich
ma g c and beautify the tone D which reintroduces the
original theme. Out from the harmony it floats, an ethereal,
singing tone magically born of the sound-waves, captivating
the hearer yet mystifying him as to the means employed to
produce a voice so exquisitely fine yet full.
EXAMPLE 129
Another valuable expedient is the substitution of a finger of

one hand for a finger of the other hand. In the above exercise
the melody-tones, JDb and (rb, can only be held substitution of
for their indicated duration of a measure and a one finger for
011
half by the substitution of the fifth finger of the reieaslng^the
tones
right hand for the second finger of the left hand,
as indicated by the fingering and the abbreviations m.s. (left
hand) and m.d. (right hand).
EXAMPLE 130
CHOPIN Nocturne, Op. 15.
The Gorno etude is in the nature of a preparatory study for

such passages as the closing measures of Chopin's F major Noc-
turne, Op. 15, which should be played in a similar manner, in
order to sustain the melody-tone G into the next measure until
F is produced, while at the same time sustaining the bass and
all the other tones of the arpeggiated harmony.
EXAMPLE 131
Often, as in the above study, the pedal must be used to

preserve the legato of the melody. The notes on the two lower
staves are the ones played and, in combination with the signs
on the pedal-line below, represent the manner of execution. The
notes on the highest staff show the cantabile effect to be im-
agined and produced. This connection of melody is some-
what difficult because of the repetitions of the melodic tones in
the accompanying voices. The pedal is used to connect the
melody-tones and also to make superlegato harmony. Almost
more important is the management of the fingers so as to obtain
the quality of attack desired. These effects should also be prac-
tised without the pedal, the player obtaining the legato and the
superlegato as well as possible with the fingers alone, by allowing

the keys which produce the melodic tones to rise only about
half-way before depressing them again for the production of
the repeated pp accompanying tones of the same pitch. To
produce the sustained accompanying tones without breaking the
legato of the melody it is necessary for the keys not to rise to the
level of the keyboard, but to be depressed only from the height
at which they feel the resistance and the weight of the key, as
previously described in connection with the figure on page 160.
Etudes 28-32 of the Gorno Material for the Study of the Piano-
forte Pedals give varieties of studies of melody notes repeated
in the accompaniment and sustained by the pedal. The tone-
sustaining by the very necessary in such

fingers, as described, is
compositions as the slow movement C minor
of Beethoven's
Sonata, Op. 13, which may be conceived as a piece written for
strings, and should therefore be played with great purity of

tone and but little resort to the pedal. Usually accompany-
ing tones such as those in Example 2 and in the Haydn and the
Mozart Sonatas should be sustained by the fingers alone and in
this manner; and great skill in this touch is required in playing
most of the examples in Chapters X and XI.
It has been shown that the term "loud pedal" is inadequate
to suggest the various functions of the important piece of
mechanism frequently so called. The term "soft
i ,
. , ,
- . - ,. . The soft pedal
pedal is also somewhat of a misnomer, for this
pedal may be used to modify the tone-coloring when playing

loud passages. Still, this is the name customarily applied to it.
The mechanism form of piano to
of this pedal varies with the
which it is attached. In the now
almost disused square piano
the soft pedal muffles the strings by inserting a piece of felt
between them and the hammers. In Beethoven's time this pedal
was called the celeste. A form of it is still to be found in upright
pianos, where the middle pedal
is often a "practice pedal" or
muffling pedal. The

action of the soft pedal in the upright
piano usually consists in moving the hammers closer to the
strings so that the blow is shortened. This kind of pedal used
j
to be called the Pedale d expression. In the grand piano,
pressure upon the hammers slightly to the
soft pedal shifts the
right (or, rarely, to the left), so that the number of unison

strings which receives the blow of each hammer is diminished by
one, although the unstruck string vibrates sympathetically,
enriching while changing the tonal quality by means of its
unattacked tone. Of this the modern pianist takes advantage
in order to produce the greatest possible changes in tone-quali-
ties. The
pressure exerted on the soft pedal usually should be
sufficient to force it quickly down to its utmost limit, otherwise
an undesired metallic sound may be produced when the strings
receive the blow from the sides of the grooves made by them in
the felt of the hammers. In consequence of the nature of its
mechanism the soft pedal must be depressed before producing

the tones to be affected by it.
Apropos of his performance of some Haydn compositions,
Rubinstein, at one of his Historical Lecture-Recitals, commented
Rubinstein's use thus upon his use of the soft pedal: "I have
played all of his music to you with my foot upon
of the soft pedal
the left pedal. In my opinion the tone of the modern piano-

forte too powerful to present aright the music of his epoch."
is
The soft pedal is employed both alone and in combination

with the other pedals to gain variety of tone coloring, and it
serves in the production of echo-like effects in
Echo effect
repeating a phrase which previously has been
played rather loud.
EXAMPLE 132
Andantino
When this pedal is employed in connection with the damper-

pedal the echo seems mysteriously veiled, as though coming
through a haze from a distance. In the above Gorno study the
full harmony is sustained in the second measure mainly by the
damper-pedal; in the third measure the repeated notes, quasi

eco (like an echo), are played while both the pedals are pressed
down. The second pedal (Fed. 2) greatly assists in obtaining
the echo effect.
Hans Schmitt says that the great artist Franz Liszt used
the soft pedal felicitously to heighten the beauty of the arpeg-
gios in his Spinning Song transcribed from The Flying Dutch-

man. He played the arpeggio fortissimo; then, without
first
raising his fqpt from the damper-pedal, and using

Liszt's pedaling
also the soft pedal, he repeated the arpeggio
pianissimo and somewhat more slowly. This gives the repeated

passage the entrancing effect of floating in nebulous sound.
EXAMPLE 133
WAGNER-LISZT Spinning Song.
1st Fed.. 2d pedal also
Placed between the soft pedal and the damper-pedal is the

sostenuto pedal. Its proper function is to sustain one tone or a
single chord to the exclusion of all others. There
The third pedal
are, however, two kinds of third pedal, one of
which is of little value, since it is merely a partial damper-
pedal controlling the dampers of the strings of the lowest octaves
only; while the damper-pedal removes the damper from all the
strings excepting those of a variable number of keys about
twenty in the highest register of the piano, which have no
dampers. This kind of so-called sostenuto pedal is unsatis-
factory, as it is merely a partial damper-pedal, for while any
string struck in the lower octaves may be made free of the dam-
pers, so also are all the dampers of the entire lower range of the
piano, thus allowing all the strings of the entire division con-
trolled by the third pedal to vibrate in sympathy with each
other and with all the other strings whose dampers are raised by
the fingers in the upper and the middle parts of the piano, pro-
ducing an effect of blurring very nearly as bad as when the
principal damper-pedal (first pedal) is in use.
But tha use of the true sostenuto pedal produces no effect

of blurring, as it is not a partial damper-pedal, since it has no
True sostenuto power to raise the dampers; it merely keeps

P edal raised such dampers, one or many, as are raised
at the moment this pedal is put down. As long as the foot
maintains its pressure on the third pedal the tone of the
sounding string whose damper is kept raised by a pres-
sure on the third pedal will continue until it dies gradually
away; but at any time the tone may be renewed by a

fresh finger stroke. When the pedal pressure is removed
the damper again falls upon the string, stops its vibration,
and the sound ceases. This variety of third pedal has no
effect on tones produced after it is put down, as it holds up
the dampers which are raised the moment it is pressed down,
and no others.
This kind of pedal is considered a very ingenious and artis-
tically valuable piece of mechanism by modern players and
Liszt's deli ht in
mus i cal thinkers who have weighed the many
the sostenuto advantages which can be derived from its use.
This Pedale de prolongement, or Debain's prolong-
ment, as it was variously called, was bought and improved by
Theodore Steinway and applied to his piano in 1874. Strange
to say, although the patent expired some years ago, and
many American pianos are now using it (with success varying
in proportion to the sonority of the instrument), it is even now
but little known in Europe. Yet so great was Liszt's delight ir
it that he wrote to Steinway: "I can only sit and admire the
wonderful results in tone, strength and completeness of this
new instrument. That you may have an example of what can
now be done with the piano since your wonderful sostenuto
pedal permits the longer sustaining of tones, I send you two
examples one the Dance of Sylphs of Berlioz and the other
No. 3 of my Consolation. Today I wrote the opening measures
of these arrangements as they can now be played since you have
added this pedal to the piano. If you wish it, I will with pleasure
rewrite the whole transcription with special view to this won-
"*
derful addition to the piano."

EXAMPLE 134
LISZT Consolation, No. 3.
In many other pieces we find passages, either long or

short, which would almost seem to have been composed
intending the use of the sostenuto pedal. Such sustained pedai-
is the case in many measures of the Introduction p int
to the Rondo, in E\>,by Chopin, in Example 135, where the Cb

in octave should be sustained as a pedal-point with the third
pedal while in the middle and upper part of the piano the hands
play passages comprising many tones which do not belong to
the harmony with which they are played.
EXAMPLE 135
CHOPIN Rondo, in Eb, Op. 16.
In order to sustain the Cb, the composer himself marks the pedal
as held down continually. But by employing the third pedal to
hold up the two dampers from the strings sounding Cb, and from
184 INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC
these strings only, the tone can be sustained according to the

composer's intention without blurring the harmonies; then
later, the damper-pedal can also be employed to advantage for
the general effect.
EXAMPLE 136
BACH C Minor Prelude, from The Well-tempered

Clavichord.
The eminent player and Bach scholar, Busoni,,in his edition

of The Well-tempered Clavichord, points out some of the advan-
Third pedal an tages of the sostenuto pedal. He says of the 28th
aid in Bach- measure of the Prelude in C minor hi the first part
of that work: "The artist must know, among
other things, how to husband his strength for climaxes and
turning points, and how to seize opportunities for gathering
new strength. This consideration makes the addition of a hold
over G
in the left hand appear justifiable; it should lend to the
bass a certain organ-like ponderousness, and throw the Presto
'
bearing down all barriers' with its irresistible flood into a

yet stronger relief; the point of rest thus gained before this
quasi cadenza will enable the player to recover the necessary
lightnessand elasticity which are apt to suffer from twenty-four
measures of an obstinately monotonous movement. Finally,
this same left-hand G may be transformed, by adding the
lower octave and employing the Steinway third pedal (pZdale
de prolongement, or sustaining pedal), into an effective six-
measure organ point."
Similar passages where the third pedal is of effective aid
occur in hundreds of compositions, among which may be named
Bach's Organ Fantasie, in C minor, Saint-Saens' G minor Con-

certo,Chopin's Prelude, inA\>, and his F$ minor Nocturne (second
part), Schumann's Papillons, Op. 2, No. 12. In Simultaneous
many casesthree pedals can be used together
all use of aii three
pedals
advantageously. Often, as in Liszt's Venezia
e Napoli this almost a necessity, in order to obtain the best
is
color effect. While the fingers on the keys and the right foot
on the damper-pedal are correctly used to sustain and connect
tone, the left foot, of sufficient length and breadth, should
if
press simultaneously the soft pedal and the sostenuto pedal.

For the pianist with a small foot there remains but the hope that
some enterprising piano-builder will make it possible to lock the
soft pedal after pressing it down
(as can be done with the prac-
tice-pedal sometimes found in cheap pianos) or in some other

way make it easy for the pianist to use all three pedals simul-
taneously.
EXAMPLE 137
BACH Musette from English Suite, in D minor.

r.. * .
j j nJ . J i i 'i
rrrrr
SdFed.
Venino, in his Pedal Method, says of the Gavotte and Musette

in the English Suite, in D
minor, that "the trio (played
una corda and pianissimo) is another example
.__.., the damper-pedal can be usedirfrom sometimes pref-
Third pedal
wherein
beginning to end without change. Instead of erabie to damper-
I
detracting from the piece, the pedal thus applied

rather heightens the effect. The entire part rests upon an organ-
point D in the bass, and is in imitation of a Bagpipe (Musette)."
However, can be produced much better
this effect of drone-bass
with the sostenuto pedal, which should be used so as to sustain
the final bass octave of the Gavotte.
EXAMPLE 138
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 101.
Regarding this desirable sounding of certain tones over

their apparent duration as indicated by the notes, Biilow says
ofmeasures 19-22 of the second part of the second
more important movement of the Sonata, Op. 101: "The com-
than musical make
poser's direction to the organ-point Db
sound on audibly through four measures has the
disadvantage, it is true, of confusing the effect of the parts in
canon, but here, as often elsewhere, secondary considerations

must be sacrificed to essentials the latter being =the sensuous
tonal effect." The conservative Reinecke agrees with him on
this point, and says: "These bars will sound somewhat indis-
tinct and vague, as Beethoven requires the raising of the dam-
pers through all four bars, in order that the low D|? may con-
tinue sounding as a pedal-point. This confusion of sound can
be somewhat lessened if during the first two bars one plays the
two upper parts with one hand (provided that the stretching
capacity of the right hand admits of it) and holds down the D[?
(on the other hand) uninterruptedly with a finger of the left
hand, and now lets the dampers fall again more often." Com-
paratively few hands are capable of the great extension required
in following Reinecke's suggested manner of performance; but
it is an easy matter to play these measures so as to sustain the
pedal-point without blurring the imitations if, instead of using
the damper-pedal as indicated by Beethoven with the signs
Fed. and &, the third pedal be employed as indicated in the
above example.
It is interesting and useful to note the meaning of the terms

con sordino and senza sordino which Beethoven has employed
so often in his earlier compositions and especially Con sordino
in his first three Concertos, as can be seen in those with dampers,
Wlthout P edal
old editions which are in accordance with the
original manuscripts and Franz Kullak edition published
in the
by Steingraber. Sordino an Italian

is word which is very often
misunderstood, as it has two meanings. The sordino for the
violinist is the mute, but in piano music the word means
damper. Consequently con sordino means with dampers, that

is, without pedal; senza sordino means without dampers, that
is, with pedal.
Beethoven adopted this manner of expressing himself in

indicating the use of the dampers, because at the time of com-
posing these Concertos (1795-1800) the cloven Hand stops,
foot-pedal was of comparatively recent invention knee-pedal
(Broadwood, 1783) and was not in general use; instead, hand
stops (invented about 1760) were used to operate the damping
apparatus in either or both of two sections, bass and treble,
and a little later, especially in Germany, the dampers were
raised by means of a divided knee-pedal (genouillieres) which ,
could be employed to raise the dampers in two sections,

treble and bass, or to raise all the dampers simultaneously.
The knee-pedal remained in use until about 1830. "The
machine pressed by the knee," writes Mozart to his father in
1777, "is prompt to raise the dampers, or, on discontinuing
the pressure ever so little, is as prompt to let them down upon
the strings again, when not the least after-resonance is heard."
In the Cminor Concerto (Example 118) the words con sordino
and senza sordino, which call for the use and disuse of the dam-
pers, are frequently used, and give a very clear idea of the
composer's desire regarding the use of the dampers and the
effects deriving from their use. Throughout the Largo these
terms are used very often, sometimes in reference to a passage
and sometimes to one note only, showing that Beethoven used
the pedal intuitively and according to the best modern usage.
In the sixty-two measures of solo in this movement he employs
con sordino twenty-one times and senza sordino nineteen times.

In his B\> Concerto he uses the term con sordino ad libitum.
The London Musical Times of August 1, 1895, contains an
article by J. S. Shedlock on Beethoven and the Sordino. The
paper is written in refutation of a previous one which stated
that the sordini of the piano consisted of that apparatus of felt

or leather which muffles the tone when inserted between the
hammers and strings, the effect being similar to that produced
by the soft pedal of our modern square pianos. The author
says: "Carl Czerny, who was a pupil of Beethoven, said in his
Pianoforte School, Vol. 4, that he studied many of Beethoven's
works under the master's own guidance and enjoyed his friendly
and instructive intercourse and that he had been asked to trêat,
in the School, of the performance of Beethoven's works. The
volume is made up chiefly of suggestions on the proper perform-
ance of all Beethoven's works for piano solo, including metro-
nome marks, giving the time in which Beethoven himself per-
formed his works, and very full instructions for the use of the
pedal as he calls it, in any case, the damper, loud or right-foot
pedal. One
sentence says that Beethoven employed the pedal
much more frequently than we find it indicated in his composi-
tions. In his remarks on Op. 26, Var. 5, Czerny says: 'The last
fifteen bars, senza sordino,' thatis, with the pedal, as it was indi-
cated at the period when this sonata appeared. To the Sonata, in

C# minor, Op. 27, he gives the direction 'sempre sordino,'
explaining this by 'the prescribed pedal must be employed
with each note of the bass.' Further he directs when the pia-
nissimo pedal is to be used and where it is not to be used in con-
junction with the senza sordino or damper-pedal in the way he
prescribes. In the third movement, Presto Agitato, he says that
with the fortissimo quaver chords, at the end of bar two of this
movement, and whenever they occur, the pedal must always
be used. In the suggestion as to the playing of the Rondo, Op. 53,
l
he says :This Rondo, of a pastoral character, is entirely calcu-
lated for the use of the pedal which is here actually expressed/
And in a footnote to this same sentence he adds The indica-
:
'
tion senza sordino was only continued as long as the pedal was
pressed with the knee.' Czerny never speaks of a pianissimo

pedal (leather and felt, interposed between hammers and
strings) called sordino. He does say that there were pedals
other than the two now used, but that they were soon discarded,
allothers being acknowledged as unworthy of the true artist.
His pianissimo pedal is the shifting pedal. Senza sordino, with
him, is a pedal pressed by the knee, by which the dampers are
raised, and is an earlier indication for producing the effect later
on and now obtained by means of the pedal. Con sordino is
the opposite of this, and equals *. Czerny ought to know what
he is talking about. He himself is sure of the correctness of his
remarks, and claims, in a concluding paragraph to the solo
sonatas, that his remarks are correct. If he is any authority
hi pianoforte matters and Beethoven in particular, the above
should be of value."
What Czerny has said of the matter is important because,
having been a pupil of Beethoven and having studied his Sonatas
with the composer himself, Czerny undoubtedly acquired a
correct idea of Beethoven's desire regarding the use both of
soft and of damper pedals, and clearly understood what the
composer meant by his manner of indicating the use of the

sordini (dampers) of the piano, as well as of the una corda pedal.
But even without the above statement of Czerny's the same
conclusions are reached by looking over the earlier compositions
of Beethoven in those old editions which employ the above
expressions to indicate the damper and soft pedals and in the
edition published by Breitkopf & Hartel which preserves the
original text. By senza sordino Beethoven undoubtedly meant
with pedal, as this marking is found in forte and fortissimo
passages, an effect which would have been impossible with the
muffling pedal (celeste) which greatly diminished the tone.
Liszt also interprets senza sordino as equivalent to the use
of the damper-pedal, as is shown in his edition of the first three
Concertos, and it is noteworthy that he has not found it
necessary to change any of the pedal-marks, although he makes
some additional ones, indicating them in small characters while
the original signs are of the usual size. The pedal was used by
Beethoven to produce the effect of increasing the intensity of
tone, of sustaining many tones that could not be sustained by
Liszt's edition of
^ n6 nn g ers >
an<^ a ^ other effects which for musical
Beethoven's reasons are produced by the modern pianist. Of
course Beethoven was desirous of obtaining color
by means of the pedals in order that the passage might express
his meaning, not merely for the sake of tone-coloring as it
might be applied in piano-music that is more brilliant and well-
sounding than deep in thought and feeling.
Not only was the damper-pedal preceded by stops. The
soft pedal, also (the shifting pedal of our grand pianos), was pre-
Una corda. ceded by two shifting hand-stops. In Beethoven's

Due corde
time, as in ours, finger-pressure upon a key in the
upper or the middle register of the piano caused a damper to
rise from three unison strings and a hammer to strike them.
The hand-stops enabled the player to shift the action so that
each hammer instead of striking three unison strings would
strike either two unison strings (due corde) or one string (una
corda). The disuse of these stops, permitting the hammer

again to strike three unison strings, was called for by the expres-
sion ire corde (three strings) and tutte le corde (all the strings).
Sometimes the una corda stop and the due corde stop were sepa-
rate mechanisms, and sometimes one stop effected the two
different shifts of the hammers. These piano and pianissimo
stops were invented by Stein in Vienna in 1789, and they were
long considered indispensable parts of the piano. Beethoven
indicates their use in some of his finest compositions. In the
slow movement of the great G major Concerto, composed in 1806,
he indicates the use of the damper-pedal in the usual modern
way. But to obtain the expression which this wonderful piece
of music requires the soft pedal as well as the damper-pedal
must be employed to obtain an effect as nearly as possible in
accordance with the composer's directions as expressed in the
following French words placed at the beginning of the Largo:
Dans tout cet Andante on tient levee la Pedale, qui ne fait sonner
qu'une corde. Au signe Fed. on Teve outre cela les etouffoirs. (All
through this Andante use the pedal which makes only one string
sound. At the sign Fed. raise the dampers besides.) After

having directed the use of the una corda stop to diminish the
tone, towards the end of the movement he uses the following
expression 2 et puis 3 cordes, meaning employ first two strings
:
and then three strings. He demands at the same time crescendo

sino al fortissimo (increasing to fortissimo), and after a few
measures of fortissimo he adds, 2 et puis 1 corde (two strings and
then one) in combination with dim. sino al pianissimo (decrease
,
to pianissimo).
Beethoven prescribes the use of the pedals minutely and
accurately hi some of his most important works. In the slow
movement of his Sonata, in B\>, Op. 106, he calls Tutte le corde
for the effects of una corda (one string), due corde Tutto a cembalo,
Mlt emer Saite
(two strings) and tre corde (three strings) with
continued alternation throughout the piece. The una corda
called for in the first measure lasts until the twenty-seventh
measure, when tutte le corde takes its place and governs the
playing of the next thirty measures; then, in quick succession,
sometimes following each other at intervals of a measure only,
una corda employed five times, followed three times by the
is
usual and twice by poco a poco due e allora tutte le

tutte le corde,
corde (little by little two and then all the strings) Towards the
.
end of the piece una corda followed by tutte le corde is used five
times. Beethoven's use of these signs both in quick succession
and also at long intervals apart, as in this piece, shows his desire
for varied tone-color and also his carefulness in writing the signs
exactly as he wished them to be placed. Sometimes he employs

the Italian expression poco a poco tutte le corde (little by little
allthe strings), meaning that the performer should pass grad-
ually from the use of one string to the use of all the strings by
means of the stops, and poco a poco due e allora tutte le corde
(little by little two and then all the strings)

. In the slow move-
ment of Op. 101 he employs the German expressions: Mit einer
Saite (with one string), Nach und nach mehrere Saiten (gradually
all the strings), Alle Saiten (all the strings) and the Italian
words Tutto il cembalo ma piano (all the piano but softly).
Mendelssohn also employs una corda and tutte le corde
quite frequently in his pianoforte compositions. In the first

movement of his Sonata, in E
major, Op. 6, written in 1826,
Mendelssohn's
ne uses ê following
expressions: una corda pp
use of una una corda pp e dolce, espressivo
dolce, tutte le corde,
p e sempre una corda, pp tutte le corde. Some-
what similar expressions are employed in the third movement of
this same sonata, in the third Caprice, Op. 33, and in the Scherzo
of the Sonata, Op. 106. Even nowadays these terms are fre-
quently employed, although the mechanism of the damping and
shifting apparatus is greatly altered from that of earlier days.
Schumann's notation of the soft pedal consists in the use

of the German word Verschiebung. As an example, in the first
Mit verschie-
measure of the Allegro from his Concerto, Op. 134,
bung: with soft occur the words mit Verschiebung (with shifting
pedal
pedal), and four measures later he indicates its
disuse by the words ohne Verschiebung (without shifting
pedal).
While examination of Beethoven's music shows that he
availed himself to the full of the coloring powers of the pedals
Moscheies' use of his day, it is equally evident that other good
of the pedals
musicians and fine pianists who did not possess
his genius seem to have been without his fine perception of
their color-value. Moscheies, although twenty-four years
younger than Beethoven, and therefore playing a more modern
piano than he, writes in the following strain: "It is my duty to
show that such a thing as a pianissimo can be obtained without
the soft pedal. The pedals are auxiliaries; whoever makes them
of primary importance puts in evidence the incapacity of his
"
own fingers." I can slowly spin out the tone as upon a stringed
instrument, and that, too, without using the soft pedal; as for
the soft pedal I do not require it to produce a pianissimo, and
can rely solely upon touch." "A good pianist uses the pedals
as little too frequent use easily leads to abuse.
as possible;
Moreover, why should he try to produce an effect with his feet
"
instead of his hands?" A good player must only rarely use the
assistance of either pedal, otherwise he misuses it." "I wish he
had not his feet so perpetually upon the pedals. All effects now
it seems must be produced by the feet what is the good of

people having hands? It is just as if a good rider wanted forever
to use spurs." Of Thalberg, Moscheles wrote: "Thalberg plays
famously, but he is not my man. . .He plays forte and piano
.
with the pedals but not with the hand."

Born within a few years of Chopin, Schumann, Mendels-
sohn and Liszt, Thalberg did much to popularize the use of the
pedals as color media. He writes in L'Art du
Chant: "In the use of the pedals, which play so
important a part in execution, we should take the greatest care
never to mix dissimilar harmonies and thus produce disagreeable
dissonances. There are pianists who make such an abuse of
the pedals, or rather they use them with so little logic, that their
sense of hearing is perverted and they have lost their apprecia-
tion of pure harmony." In a somewhat similar strain Mar-
montel writes: "The greatest number of pupils to whom the
use of the pedal is permitted, make use of it to beat the time,
or better, to put it down and never let it go. This produces
a frightful cacophony, to the affliction of all musicians of taste."
These sayings show the gradual development of pedal usage and
the growing appreciation, by the fine pianist, of the pedal, which
Venino calls "the life-giving power to the pianist, that which
vitalizes a composition as the sunlight vitalizes dormant colors,
or the breath the human body." They also indicate the bar-
barous use to w^hich, in the past as in the present, ordinary
pianists put the pedals, the difficulty of teaching their correct
use, and their rise, in the esteem of pianists, from the humble
position of "auxiliary" to the exalted one of "soul" of the
pianoforte.
The finest and most crystallized expression upon this
subject which has found its way into print since that of Rubin-
stein, comes from the pen of Josef Hofmann, in Jose f Hofmann
his Piano Playing. "As the eye guides the fingers on the P edals
when we read music, so must the ear be the guide and the
'sole' guide* of the foot upon the pedal. The foot is merely
the servant, the executive agent, while the ear is the guide, the
judge, and the final criterion. If there is any phase in piano-
playing where we should remember particularly that music is
for the ear, it is in the treatment of the pedal. ... It should be

remembered that the pedal is not merely the means of tone
prolongation but also a means of coloring and preeminently
that. What is generally understood by the term 'piano-charm'
is to the greatest extent produced by an artistic use of the pedal.
The moment when the blending of non-harmonic tones imperils

the tonal beauty of the piece in hand can be determined solely
and exclusively by the player's own ear, and here we are once
more at the point from which this article started, namely that :
the earis governor, and that it alone can decide whether or not
there is to be any pedal. . . . We

should, therefore, endeavor to
train the susceptibility of our ear, and we should ever make it
more difficult to gain the assent of our own ear than to gain
that of our auditors. ... To hear ourselves play that is, to
listen to our own
playing is the bed-rock basis of the tech-
nique of the pedal. Now, as the right pedal should not be
. . .
used to cover a lack of force, so should the left pedal not be

regarded as a license to neglect the formation of a fine pianissimo
touch. It should not cloak or screen a defective pianissimo, but
should serve exclusively as a means of coloring where the soft-
ness of toneis coupled with what the jewelers call 'dull finish.'
For the left pedal does not soften the tone without changing its
character; itlessens the quantity of tone but at the same time
it also markedly affects the quality. . . . Train your ear and then
use both pedals honestly!"
Reference has been made to the fact that not only is it often
desirable and frequently imperative for certain tones to continue
sounding longer than is indicated by the value of
their notes, but this desirable sounding of tones
over their apparent duration should often be extended through
written rests, as in Example 117.
It is not always an easy matter to decide whether the com-
poser has intended rests of silence or sounding rests, although

the composer's desire to have his music interpreted exactly
as he conceived it is sometimes so strong as to lead him to em-
ploy unusual notation for the purpose. Carl Reinecke, in his
EXAMPLE 139
BEETHOVEN Sonata, Op. 53, C major.
mi I I'd
H *
U*g
EXAMPLE 141
BEETHOVEN Sonata, in F minor, Op. 57.
The
expression sempre pedale does not mean that the
player is to keep the pedal pressed down continuously, but to
continue to use the pedal freely so as to bring out the effect
desired by the composer. The word Fed. used alone and not
followed by a star has the same meaning as sempre pedale
and often used to indicate the desirability of
is
sustaining a
pedal-point or certain other tones (most frequently in the
bass) without too much blurring of the other voices. The
sign of a star for pedal release is omitted because, as the
proper use of the pedal cannot clearly be indicated by signs,
its discriminative employment is left to the
judgment of the
performer.
Most modern composers employ this method, among others,
to indicate the use of the pedal. For example, Sgambati, in his
sgambati's Toccata, in Ab, Op. 18, No. 4, indicates the neces-

p edal sary sustaining of a double pedal-point through
many measures, placing the word Fed. under the
notes F and C written as eighth-notes, and using no sign of
pedal release, although seven measures later he again uses the
word Pedal. This points out the composer's desire for the
sustained pedal-point without a disagreeable blurring of tbs
notes of the passage played above it. That Sgambati is very
careful in his use of the pedal is shown frequently in his pub-
lished works. On the first three pages of the Etude de Concert, in
F%, Op. 10, he uses both Fed. and &, and Fed. without the star;
then for a page and a half he employs Kohler's pedal notation
notes and rests on a single pedal-line; after which he returns to
his former notation.
In Mendelssohn's works the words sempre peddle are
usually followed sooner or later by 3*. This is often as confusing
as when no sign whatever is given to drop the Mendelssohn's
dampers. Even Schmitt, with his extensive and pedal notation
accurate knowledge of the pedal, fails in one instance to
appreciate the true value of the sempre pedale, for after
having discussed it at some length and apparently with
full understanding of its meaning, he says of the passage
given in Example 120: "It may be more positively asserted

that the sempre pedale at the conclusion of the sixth Song
without Words is not intended to be observed as there in-
dicated; Mendelssohn certainly never wished it to be played
as he wrote it." But it is evident from the explanation just
given and from the text in conjunction with Example 120
that Mendelssohn did intend the words sempre pedale to
be observed as he there indicated; but of course his words
are not to be understood according to the letter merely,
but in the spirit in which they were written, and as they are
meant by all good composers. This also applies to the Chopin
Example 107. Of all the notation used in pianoforte music that
intended for the pedal is the most inadequate, contradictory
and puzzling, except to the musician-pianist, to whom all is

plain, and excepting, also, those unthinking, unhearing players
"
who say: I tell my pupils just to obey the signs; to put down
the pedal when it is marked and to let it up when they see the
star, and not to use it at all unless the sign is written in the
music."
At the beginning of a composition Schumann often employs
the words Pedal, Pedale, or Mil Pedal, whether or not fol-

lowed by sign of pedal release, with the significance of
Mit Pedal sempre pedale. The terms pedal and pedale
Pedale grande. he uses with exceeding frequency through-
out so many compositions that it would be
a simpler matter to designate those pieces in which he
does not employ these signs than those in which they
do occur. He likewise uses the terms col pedale (always
with pedal), sempre tenuto per il pedale (always held with the
pedal) and pedale grande.
When the use of the pedal is necessary for harmonic reasons,
and the melody moves rather rapidly, there is great danger that
Senza pedale. the melody will be blurred unless the fingers have
Senza tempo learned to sustain tone properly. With this in
mind, the while greatly desiring super legato
composer,
harmonies, may yet write senza pedale (without pedal) as a
guide to the fingers and as warning against an over-use
of the pedaL An illustration of this is to be found in
Godard's En Valsant, Op. 53, No. 6, which in the beginning
is marked molto Ped. (much pedal), and nine measures
later, senza pedale,' many measures after occur the words
senza pedale il seguente (the following without pedal).' Only
a very large hand could accomplish the desired connection
of tone without resorting to the pedal. A person with a
small hand would be obliged to forego the purity of tone
gained by lack of pedal and would be forced to use the
pedal a to sustain and connect tone, despite the com-
little
poser's express prohibition in the words senza pedale. Senza

pedale often means without pedal, if this be in accordance
with the judgment of the player. Its meaning is elastic,
somewhat as is the meaning of the words senza tempo, ex-
amples of which are to be found in the first movement of
Beethoven's Concerto, in E\>, in Schumann's Allegro, Op. 8, and
in the Adagio of Mendelssohn's Sonata, Op. 6, in all of which
the passages so marked are not without tempo, but in free
tempo, rubato, con discrezione, quasi improvisazione, or like a
recitative.
EXAMPLE 142
SCHUMANN Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 121.
p
A similar instance is found eleven measures after, where

a syncopated chord which is attacked on the last beat of the
measure and held for one beat in the next should
bass-note sus- be sustained all through the measure, during the
tamed through second and third beats; for although the rests
are written
by Schumann, so also are the signs
Fed. and leaving no doubt that these rests are intended for
the fingers only and not for the ear. The bass note Ab, which
Schumann characteristically writes as an acciaccatura-grace,
should also sound with the chord, being written as a grace-note
because of the impossibility of holding it with the fingers. In
such cases it is necessary to strike the important bass-note
marcato, and immediately after striking it the pedal should be
employed to sustain the tone.
EXAMPLE 144
Kur& and energisch
VIOLIN .
PIANO
When Schumann employs the sign of thef-<pedal he is ex-

tremely careful to indicate exactly his meaning. In the first
short staccato two measures of this same sonata the pedal marks
with pedal show that the notes of the staccato chords in these
and the three succeeding measures are to be prolonged a little
longer than their value as written, but without destroying
entirely the effect of rest. The composer further indicates his
desire for this effect by the use of the word kurz (short) at the
same time as the word Ped. This is a case in which the pedal
isused simultaneously with the fingers instead of afterwards;
the object being to strengthen th? volume of tone and give the
chords an quality otherwise unobtainable.

orchestral Both
pedal and be used in a staccato manner, and,
fingers should
as Schumann directs, with energy. The acciaccatura chords
from Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 57, shown in Example 31, should
be played in this manner, but with louder, more vigorous
orchestral coloring, as should also the C's at the end of each of
the two scales introducing the theme in the Solo of the first
movement of his Concerto in C minor.
EXAMPLE 145
BEETHOVEN Concerto, in C minor.
ttr
This form of pedal technic should be practised by the
student until it is easy for him to obtain pedal-staccato, in
pianissimo, forte and fortissimo sforzando, and with all
qualities of semi-staccato and staccatissimo.
EXAMPLE 146
Largbetto
The alternation of pedal effect with fingers and pedal effect

with pedal is a form of technic of which the player must con-
tinually avail himself if he is to connect and sus-

Pedal effect pro- . . .
A , , . ,
. . ... .
duced alter-
,
tain tones with purity. And often the use of

nateiy by hand without pedal is very necessary. The only
fingers
way to preserve the pizzicato effect of the staccato
notes in measures two and four of the above exercise is to use
the pedal as indicated by the rests and notes on the pedal-line.
In measures one and three the pedal is used immediately after
striking the first chord, so as to sustain it while the right hand
plays the accompanying chords; but in measures two and four
the use of the pedal is delayed until after the staccato notes are
played, so as to preserve the staccato effect of the pizzicato
octaves in the left hand.
EXAMPLE 147
SCHUBERT Sonata, in Bb major. Andante.

, Andante sostenuto
col Fed.
But notes written staccato are often long-sustained, as is

shown in the above example from the slow movement of Schu-
staccatonote posthumous Sonata, in Bb. In the first
bert's
coipedaie measure the words col Fed. (with pedal) are
marked under the staccato bass-note, and the sign for pedal
release comes forty-two measures later. This merely means that
the bass-notes should be sustained and connected without blur-
ring the melody. The sostenuto pedal could be employed advan-
tageously to do this. Schubert very rarely uses any pedal signs,
though we find mil Verschiebung in the Trio of the Sonata, Op.
42; pp una corda in the second movement of the Sonata, Op. 53,
and ten measures later, p tutte corde; sordini ppp many times
INTERPRETATION 0? PIANO MUSIC. 203
in the slow movement of the Sonata, Op. 143;and sempre pedale

in the first measure of the song Sei mir gegrusst (Angel of
Beauty).
EXAMPLE 148
SCHUMANN Albumblatter, Vision, Op. 124, No. 14.
In Schumann's Albumblatter, Op. 124, No. 14, the piece

begins as in the above example, and throughout NO indication of
its entire length of sixteen measures, all in the P edal release
same general style, no other pedal-mark occurs. There is no

mark for pedal release.
EXAMPLE 149
SCHUMANN Carnival, Op. 9, No. 9.
yuast'Corni
Occasionally the instrumentation of a piece is so strongly

in the imagination of the composer that he gives some hint of it
in the text, as in the above measures from the
orchestral
Op. 9, No. 9, Papillons, where, besides the call coloring sug -
words in
for the pedal and the sforzando, the words quasi gested
Corni (like horns) serve as an intimation of the musical character,
and as in Bach's Capriccio On the Departure of a Very Dear
Brother, in which two of the movements bear the titles Air of
the Postilion and Fugue in Imitation of the Posthorn, respectively.
204 INTERPRETATION OF PIANO MUSIC
EXAMPLE 150
Larghetto
ben mnrratfi la melodia
Orchestral effect of full, wide-spread, sustained harmonies

accompanying a legato melody can be obtained by one hand
orchestral effect
a ^ one ^ ^ ne damper-pedal be correctly employed,
produced by one The above study should be played by a single hand
hand and pedal
& i[mQ firgt^ the j eft hand .
^^
then by ^^
the right hand alone. The melody should be well brought out
by a proper subordination of the other parts, each of which has
its own varied tone-colorings.
EXAMPLE 151
(La melodia sempre mp, marcata

sempretcnuta e legato col pedalt
(Le note dctt' accompagnamfoio
sempre pp legerjtsime super-
legato ccjf fed.)
Even a single finger, assisted by the pedal, can create fine

orchestral effects of melody supported by sustained harmonies
orchestral effect
^ wiê compass, as is shown in Example 151,
produced by one one hand is used to
where the second finger of
finger and pedal
produce the tones which t h e damper-pedal is
employed to hold, in order that the same finger may be free to be
removed, to produce, one after another, the melody tones and
the notes of the harmonies. The Italian terms in parentheses

signify that the melody notes should be mp, well marked and
held and connected with the pedal; the notes of the accom-
paniment should be played pp, very lightly, and superlegato
should be produced by means of the pedal.
Beauty of tone is dependent not only upon the manner of
attack and release of the keys but also upon the way in which
the damper-pedal is used (its attack, release or Tone sustained
partial release, the frequency of its application) by suent re- P res-
sure
and upon the number of pedals used. It is fasci-
nating to observe what a variety of tints maybe obtained in even
a single tone after it is produced. Let the pedal sustain a tone
while the finger leaves the key; then silently replace the finger
on the key and release the pedal; finally, press the pedal fre-
quently, at the same time allowing the keys to rise several times
but half-way, only to be again depressed. All this, which takes
long to tell, should be rapidly done, and there will be
heard a delightful diversity of tone-coloring, the fineness
of which depends upon the instrument even more than upon
the player.
In a similar manner, though more slowly, by the alternate
use of fingers and pedal, purity of melodic outline may be
maintained by the performer while playing The sign
different harmonies, and the melodic vibrations ^^
are not only sustained but are also renewed and strengthened
each time the pedal frees the strings from the dampers. In the
following example the upper staff represents the effect of sus-
tained tone which is obtained. The two lower staves show how
thismelody in thirds is unbrokenly sustained. Signer Gorno
has devised the sign i
as an indication that the hand
1
which has been removed from certain keys should return to

them and, with convenient fingers, silently press the keys
again, so as to keep the dampers raised from the strings
after the pedal pressure is removed, in this way obtaining sus-
tained and unbroken tone by not renewing the attack of the
hammer upon the string. Thus the unblurred melody can be
played legato, while the accompaniment can be played staccato.
EXAMPLE 152
Largo
The only way in which such effects can all be obtained in

this and in other similar passages (such as are constantly
occurring in piano music) is to make use of this silent

pressure of finger upon key, in combination with the use of the
damper-pedal.
EXAMPLE 153
GRIEG In the Spring, Op. 43.
Such a manner of playing is necessary in rendering the

closing measures of Grieg's lyric piece, In the Spring, Op. 43,
which can be played correctly only by means of silent re-pressure
of the fingers upon the octave B, which the left hand was obliged
to quit hi order to play the F# on the highest staff. Grieg's
own notation for the left hand consists of the octave B written
in the customary manner, in dotted-whole-notes; but for the
purpose of clearly demonstrating the means by which the bass,
melody and inner voices can be connected to those in the suc-
ceeding measure without blurring the tones of the dotted-half-
notes D$ and D%, the octave in B is so written that the silent re-
placing of the hand upon these keys on the second beat can be
indicated by the sign i i
The hand should be used in this
manner, and the pedal employed twice in the first measure, so as
to sustain D# and connect it to Dft, then Dty is connected to C#
without blurring any of these tones. In the meanwhile the bass
is sustained, for the dampers are kept raised by fingers and pedal
alternately. This is the only means of playing so as to interpret

correctly Grieg's conception of legato in all the voices and a
distinct progression of the tones of the interesting melodic
voice, Z)#, Dft, C#.
EXAMPLE 154
GORNO Pedal Studies, Part II, No, 51.
The silent pressure of the fingers may be used to effect a
charming close to an arpeggio. After the arpeggio is played,

and while it is being sustained by the pedal,
Harmonics
silently replace the ringers on certain of these
keys and then release the pedal, as shown in the third measure
of the above example. The chosen tones, corresponding with
the keys pressed, will continue to sound while others, released
both by pedal and finger, have ceased, and the richness of these
sustained tones may be increased by again pressing the pedal
as indicated in the fourth measure, on the pedal-line.
When a string is in vibration it produces not only the prin-
cipal tone heard but also, much more faintly, the intervals of
the octave above, the 12th, the 15th, etc. It is the presence
of these harmonics, or overtones, which gives to the funda-
mental tone its fulness. In sustaining tones of an arpeggio in
the lower part of the piano it is best to follow, as nearly as
possible, this natural sequence of related tones, and to emulate
the example of the great pianists, who rarely sustain with the
pedal a closed octave deep hi the bass, but release the tones
filling up the octave before employing the pedal to hold the
bass and other tones. Otherwise many dissonant overtones
are generated, and the tone, instead of being full and rich,
sounds thick.
EXAMPLE 155
MOZART Fantasie, in D minor.
$& * "%&
Therefore, in playing these measures from the Mozart

Fantasie, in D
minor, the and the F A
in the left hand should not
be sustained beyond their apparent value of an eighth by either
fingers or pedal, but the octave D should be held by the fingers,
and the use of the pedal delayed until after the second D is
sounded, so as to sustain, in the left hand, only the open octave.
Some overtones are much fainter than others, but the more
sonorous and carefully made the piano, the less the undesirable
harmonics are noticeable, and the more distinct Esthetic use of
those harmonics which are most useful to the overtones
'
pianist. You have discovered the secret to lessen to an

imperceptible point that unpleasant harmonic of the minor
seventh, which has heretofore made itself heard on the eighth
or ninth node of the longer strings to such a degree as to
render some of the finest chords cacophonic," wrote Berlioz
to Steinway. The best harmonics, that is, the octaves and
the fifths, in a fine piano are strong enough to be heard dis-
tinctlywhen separated from their fundamentals. Even in the
higher registers of the piano any one of these overtones can be
obtained and isolated from its fundamental by the silent pres-
sure of a finger upon a key corresponding to its pitch, and
sounded by itself without striking the strings corresponding
to its pitch.
Until the cause is known it is most astonishing to hear

tones to induce which neither the strings nor even Tones appearing
the keys have been touched by hammer or by of themselves
finger. Hans Schmitt gives an illustration in which overtones,
Eolian in their evanescent sweetness, appear of themselves an
octave, and a twelfth, above the highest tones directly pro-

duced by striking keys.
A delightful effect resultant from sympathetic resonance
may be employed by self-accompanied vocalists to get echo
A vocalist's effects such as are suitable in pastoral songs,
echo effect
yodels, etc. By keeping the foot upon the damper-
pedal, and throwing the voice against the sounding-board of the
open piano while singing two or three final tones belonging to
the same harmony, a most realistic and sylvan echo will be
returned. Beautiful as is this effect, never but once has the
writer heard it from the concert
stage.
By resorting to this echoing power of the piano a pro-
longed trill may be made to close with spectral daintiness, if it
Esthetic
begun with great strength, evenness and bril-
trills
is
liancy, and continued at the same speed dccres-

cendo, the player ultimately removing the fingers from the
keys, when the piano will for some time continue the trill.
The impression upon the hearer will be greater, however, if
the fingers simulate playing, as this induces him to listen for
the sound more closely than when the hands are removed from
the keyboard. The great artists not infrequently employ this
method of trilling, decreasing the sound to the finest pianissimo,
then gradually working up, crescendo, to a climax. A trill can
be played in this way with comparative success, even upon a
poor piano.
EXAMPLE 156
SCHUMANN Paganini, from Carnival, Op. 9.
rrri
Pedale
But these are not isolated instances of surprising pedal

effect; they are only a few of the many equally interesting effects
common to the playing of all the great pianists.
Schumann s ,
In playing the above measures from The Carnival notation of over-

tones
the chord of nine notes is caused to sound without
striking their corresponding strings. Many of the tones are but
distantly related, and one not at all related, to the preceding
sforzato chords, but have been set free in preceding measures
by getting the sounding-board and all the strings into strong
vibration while keeping the pedal firmly pressed down. By
silently depressing the keys of the higher chord, then removing
the foot from the pedal, the attacked tones are released, and
only the chord of distant music remains. Schumann's own
notation of this chord in small notes indicates his desire for
this unattacked tone produced by silent pressure of the keys.
Purity of tone is ordinarily desired by the pianist, but
there is no musical law which cannot be broken if the poetic
feeling calls for it. All the great modern pianists
produce dramatic orchestral effects by the use
of the pedal in blurring discordant tones, as in the storm of the
Wagner-Liszt Senta's Ballad, Liszt's Orage, the beginning of

his B
minor Ballad, etc. To avoid sullying the tone to an
offensive degree, the pedal should be lightly pressed, raised and
depressed again, whenever the blurring of tones threatens to
grow unpleasant. Often, in order to produce the desired effect,
the pedal is
kept in constant agitation, in which case it is said
to be trilled. The pedal can be used in this manner without
releasing the important bass tone and others sonorously played.
Blurring of tones is not allowable save in cases where a
well-conceived characteristic tone-coloring can be obtained only
by its means. For instance, most pianists play the Descriptive
lastmovement of Chopin's B\> minor Sonata with orchestral
the pedal down almost continuously, so as to give

the right meaning, which Rubinstein interprets thus: "This
is a whole drama, with its last movement after the very typical
Funeral March, which I would name 'Night winds sweeping

over church-yard graves.' "
by means of blurring the sound that master

It is partly
players express the feeling of Chopin in his C minor Etude,

which, composed after the fall of his beloved Warsaw, depicts
tempestuous passion, destruction, ruin, despair. Cradle-songs,
spinning-songs, the murmur of water and the rustle of leaves,
all these can be painted in tones by an esthetic and significant
harmonic confusion. Not only do Chopin, Liszt and many

other more modern composers abound in such pedal effects;
these are numerous in the works of Schubert and Beethoven,
and are by no means lacking in the compositions of the great
Bach. Such descriptive blurring of tone is very effective if not
indulged in to excess, for these indistinct and confused passages
act as a foil to the chaste simplicity of pure melodic and
harmonic flow, the charm of which in turn is enhanced by the
temporarily obscured harmonies. Chopin's Berceuse, Liszt's
Spinning Song, Moszkowski's In Autumn, Debussy's Reflections
in the Water, are pieces which, like thousands of others, contain
many passages slightly blurred.
EXAMPLE 157
SAINT-SAENS Concerto, in F major.
A most peculiar and charming effect occurs twice in the

slow movement of Saint-Saens' Concerto, in F major, Op. 103.
Effect of striking The composer says that the passages in question
on glass should sound as though produced by striking
upon glass. The effect is caused by use of the pedal in com-
bination with staccato and arpeggiated chords played pianissimo
by the right hand, while an altogether different touch is used
by the left hand as is indicated in the notation by the com-
poser's use of both large and small notes.
Music-box effects, so common in the works of Liszt and

other modern composers, are produced by delicately playing
the keys in the upper part of the piano, while Music-box
tones previously elicited sound sonorously, so effects
that, with a judicious trilling of the pedal, the dissonances

are scarcely heard, as shown in Example 158. (Fed. ten. sino
al # signifies pedal held to &.)
EXAMPLE 158
ten. colped.
ten. sino al.
Even may be played while using the pedal, especially

scales
ifpreceding chords are made to sound distinctly, thus giving a
harmonic foundation for the passage, as is shown scales with
by the composer in the following example. The P edal
pedal is pressed firmly down, and, after the chord is struck, is

allowed to rise but slightly, and is trilled so as to blot out with
the dampers those tones of the passage which are foreign to

the harmony of the chord. Such effects occur often in dramatic
and descriptive music, and require thoughtful and skilled
pedaling. "Above all," wrote Berlioz, "the pianist should

know how to use the pedals judiciously."
EXAMPLE 159
Moderate
As, hi orchestrating a piece, a composer would not employ

to excess the English horn or the oboe, or other instrument of
Musicianiy use peculiar coloring, so extremes in pedal effects

of the pedals should be used sparingly in order to be relished;
one cannot dine on caviare. Purity of melodic line as well as
diversity of color is the aim of the musician-pianist, and the
pedals should be used with taste, the ear being arbiter of effects.
The use of the pedal is largely dependent upon the way in which
the fingers are used, how they produce, sustain and end the
tone, and which tones of the harmonies are made most promi-
nent. The pitch of the tones and the rate of speed at which
they are played are likewise powerful elements in determining
how, when and when not to use the pedal for occasionally
the disuse of the pedal makes a profound impression upon the
emotions of the auditor. These many factors in correct pedal
usage are some of the causes that contribute to make the ped-
aling of each artist different from that of his peer; forwhat
would be a correct, even an artistic use of the pedals by one
player might be incorrect and bad-sounding if adopted without

change by one who used his fingers in some other way.
The conscientious musician rarely uses any means of
mere display of virtuosity.
artistic effect for We have in this
respect a model in the great Russian master
whose technical skill was infinite, yet who truly
said: "I play as a musician, not as a virtuoso." The best use
of pedal and fingers is that which most completely expresses
the conception of the composer; and how difficult of achieve-
ment this often is Verily Chopin's speech was golden when he
!
said: "The correct employment of the pedal is a study for life."

CHAPTER XIII
A WORD ON TECHNIC
Musical understanding comes only with the playing of

much music. As the mastering of one composition helps in
learning another, there should be a certain finish
to the playing of some of the compositions studied,
so that the next piece of the same style may get the benefit of
previous practice; thus, if the pupil study with the teacher a
Beethoven sonata, he should also by himself study one, getting
all he can out of it. As Schumann says, he should make The
Well-tempered Clavichord his daily bread; not only for enjoyment
and for the musicianly development which Bach-study brings,
but also in order to gain pianistic accuracy, that distinctness
of articulation and clearness of utterance which can be acquired
in no other way. In Bach-playing, control is of the first impor-
tance, and this form of technic is more difficult to acquire than the
technic demanded in Liszt-playing, where flexibility is the main
requisite. Daily sight-reading is an essential part of a musi-
cian's training, and ensemble playing is necessary for many
reasons, one of the most important being the development of

a correct understanding of works orchestrally conceived by
the composer. The use of a metronome with certain passages
helps to a good sense of measure, but this mechanical aid should
never be employed throughout a whole work. The true feeling
for rhythm and for subtle rubato can be learned only by lis-
tening to the performance of such interpreters as Nikisch, Isaye,

De Pachmann, Paderewski and Wiillner. The singing of lyric
songs should not be neglected by the pianist, for this fosters an
appreciative love of melody and vocal tone-coloring; nor should
the study of operatic scores be omitted, for they cultivate
dramatic conception and a good declamation.
The learner should practise studies, many and much,
216
especially those of Cramer, who might be called the Bach of

technic; and, for the acquisition of flexibility, Czerny. But
it is not practice so much as it is thought that
is necessary. The student should ask himself the

reason for everything and investigate the causes of his diffi-
culty, which are oftener mental than physical. One can practise
technic mentally without touching the piano. It was thus that
Billow memorized, in an afternoon, the Chromatic Fantasie.
A quarter of an hour of practice intently and thoughtfully
employed is better than many hours of meaningless or careless
practice. What a pity it is that so much wasted effort is given
to exercises! Clementi, Cramer, even Chopin and Liszt, do no
good with their studies unless the student thinks. What
quantities of studies, good in themselves, are put to no purpose
and worse by misdirected energy!
the student were to study other pieces as carefully tech-
If
nically as he studies formal Etudes, special technical work would

not be necessary. Rosenthal, whose technic is Material for
perfection, practises in this way; he says there is technical prac-
no need of special exercises, but that every piece * ice to be found

.
should furnish material for technical study. This

is true if the mind can be brought to consider the technical
requirements of each piece, but it is very difficult for the student

to practise interesting compositions mechanically, because there
are in these so many things to be enjoyed musically. Schumann
recommends the player to devise exercises tor himself. Any
study may be adapted with reference to special needs by prac-
tising it with some of the many possible different fingerings and
phrasings, played both legato and staccato, and with various
combinations of fingers, hand, forearm and upper arm touches.
The position of the hand in pianoforte playing is not,
strictly speaking, a natural one. Any one who is asked to lay
his fingers on the keys in a natural position will Fundamental
incline the hand downward on the side of the little hand
position of
finger, and the longer fingers will be stretched out much beyond
the shorter ones. But in the cramped position thus caused by
depressing the hand on the outside one might practise forever
without gaining either strength or skill. It is best to elevate

the outside of the hand until the little finger is almost straight,
and to contract the second and third fingers, so as to equalize
the length of the fingers. Then, if the keys are all struck from
the same height above the keyboard and with the same manner
of attack, the quality and quantity of tone produced by the
fingers will be uniform. In pure finger-touch the knuckles,

especially those of the outer fingers, are usually held rather high,
and the wrist low, that a touch from the finger alone may be
obtained, for it is evident that with a high wrist a pressure from
the forearm is unavoidable, as the hand will be depressed when
the thumb and this falling necessitates an involuntary
strikes,
accent. When a low wrist is employed no such falling occurs
with the use of the thumb, and the touch from the five equally
weighted knuckles results in equality of tonal quantity and
quality. It is then easy to add to or to subtract from the
weight of any finger, as may be desired. The curved finger

touch conduces to brilliancy and facilitates certain kinds of
staccato touches. Flat finger touch, in which the fingers are
stretched out almost straight, tends to produce legato, although
it may be used also in staccato. This touch is richer and
more sympathetic than the curved finger touch. Some of
the finest effects result from the fingers remaining in constant
contact with the keys, that is, without in the least raising the
finger-tips from off the keys.
In cases where the thumb is not required to pass under the
fingers nor the fingers to pass over the thumb much ease as
well as accuracy J in playing will be egained by*
Position of hand . . .
favoring the 4th turning the wrists inward, towards the center of
and the sth | ne keyboard, with the fingers pointing towards
the ends of the keyboard, so that the hands are
inclined at an angle to the keyboard, thus:
Left Hand. Right Hand.
The better position gained for all five fingers by this outward
in jlination ofthe hand is one reason why it is desirable to hold

the fourth and the fifth fingers close together, even at times
striking with both fingers together on one key. Besides, this
way of playing, as well as the use of the third, the fourth and
the fifth fingers simultaneously on one key, gives strength and
a sonorous quality of tone. The use of the third finger in chords
where the fourth and the fifth fingers are employed on different
keys, puts the hand out of position; therefore, when it can be
used, the second finger is preferable in connection with the fourth

or the fifth finger.
But in playing scales, arpeggios and other combinations of
notes in which the main difficulty lies not in the management
of the fourth and the fifth finger but of the thumb, Position of hand
the problem is different. It is obviously impossible favoring the
thumb
to turn the thumb under and at the same time
to incline the hand outward or even to keep it parallel with the
keys, and a little experimenting will convince the player that if
the hand be turned somewhat inward, with the fingers pointing
toward the center of the keyboard the reverse of the
former position the thumb will pass under with greater ease
than in any other position, and without altering its angle of
inclination, in playing a scale. With equally weighted and
controlled knuckles and a glide of the arm smooth passages
provided that while playing the inner ear vividly
will result,
hears an ideal scale while the fingers reproduce it. As is the
case in all technic, velocity is largely a mental quality. When
speeding a ball in golf or tennis the mind is fastened mainly
upon the point aimed at and not upon the point of attack,
and similarly in playing a wide skip or a long scale the mind
swiftly should be aimed at the ultimate tone. Since it takes
a fraction of a second to depress the keys, this mental tone
very slightly and imperatively precedes as well as accompanies
its reproduction in piano-tone. When the inner hearing of
ideal tones is carried very swiftly toward the ultimate tone,
so swiftly as almost to ignore the starting-point and inter-
mediate tones (yet at the same time with a sub-consciousness
of them), then the music will be reproduced on the piano with
a like speed, providing that thereis flexibility of joint and
elastic strength of muscle. Without this instantaneous and

expressive mental pre-hearing and dictation a fine musical
rendering is impossible, no matter how much training in mech-
anism the fingers, hand and arm may have received. When
a sharp staccato is desired the mental tones must be of a precise
shortness. When the tones should be songful and long-sus-
tained the accompanying mental melody must be full, contin-
uous and flowing. The difference between players principally
depends upon the intensity of the hearing of the imagination.
Providing the technic is adequate, the conception, be it
noble or trivial, is instantaneously mirrored in the responsive
interpretation.
While it is to Bach that we owe the establishment of the

most common formula of scale fingering and a methodical and
intelligent use of the thumb in turning it under
the fingers, for he was the musician of high
first
standing who recommended that the thumb be used to perform

its natural function in scale playing, instead of allowing it to
hang down, cumbrously and uselessly, it is to Chopin, and
after him to Liszt and to von Billow, that we owe a scientific

elaboration of this branch of technic. Chopin often advocated
the turning of the thumb under the little finger when either
cantabile playing or speed was to be gained by this means. Such
a manner of playing implied an inclination of the hand even
greater than that adapted to the usual fingering, so that the
thumb could be prepared thoroughly over the key next to be
struck by it. This was not his only innovation; he frequently
used his thumb upon the black keys. With what horror did
those of the old school look upon this new form of technic What !
must Czerny have thought of this style of fingering? Czerny,

who in his Letters to a Young Lady writes: "As to what must

be observed or avoided in any regular system of fingering:
First; when several keys are to be played, one after another,
either in ascending or descending, and five fingers are not suffi-
cient for the purpose, the four longer fingers must never be
turned over one another; but we must either pass the thumb
under, or pass the three middle fingers over the thumb. Sec-
ondly; the thumb must never be placed on the black keys.
Thirdly; we must not strike two or more keys with the self-
same finger. " As to Czerny's remark about the longer fingers
being turned one over another, we well know that the playing
of thirds and sixths as well as a cantabile style in general has
been made much easier by the frequent violation of this rule a
violation so common as to have become, not merely the excep-
tion which proves the rule, but a law in itself and one of infinite
value. Legato in the outer parts frequently can be obtained
only by this means, which, thanks to the boldness of Chopin,
is now taught as a part of the technical equipment of the
student. As to producing two or more consecutive tones by

means of thesame ringer, we now do this perforce in almost
every piano composition; besides which, the player often
prefers such fingering as a means of obtaining a certain
quality of tone different from that gained by using successive
fingers.These things Chopin taught, by example, by precept,
and by the fingering which he sometimes marked in his own
compositions.
We often hear it said of this or that person that he has a
beautiful touch. It might be more correct, perhaps, to say
touches, as the myriad of tone colors of which a
pianist avails himself is primarily dependent
upon the diversity of his technical equipment, although with
an artist mechanical skill is only supplementary to the higher
attributes of an emotional and intellectual comprehension of
the work he interprets; for technic has no intrinsic value, and
is to be cultivated as a means, not as an end in itself.
Those touches should first be mastered which are most

used. These touches are: finger-legato and finger-staccato,
martellato-legato and martellato-staccato. The first of these

to be studied and the most difficult to acquire is pure finger-
touch, pianissimo. This is of the greatest
possible value though it is
taught. but little
Indeed, it is a difficult thing to

get pupils to practise;
beginners, especially, cannot perceive the use of playing softly,
and it is wasted time to try to persuade them to it. Even ad-
vanced students do not practise it much; yet it is of infinite
value, as by means of soft playing with the unaided finger
flexibility and accuracy of touch are gained, and the finger
acquires great sensitiveness and the ability to produce variety
of tone color. In practising this touch all of the fingers should
rest easily upon the keys except the one which is in the act of
striking; this shouldbe raised without stiffness from the knuckle

and should descend without assistance from the strength of
hand or wrist, and without strain, almost as though falling of its
own weight. The wrist should be low, so as to permit of this touch
from the knuckle alone. As Thalberg expresses it, the hand
should seem boneless. The fourth and the fifth fingers are nat-
urally weak and the thumb is clumsy, yet free and even action
of each of the five fingers should be acquired, and except when
variety is desired, there should be no difference in the quality

of the tones produced by them.
After acquiring a legato touch and perfect evenness of
stroke, let tone color be considered in the playing of all scales,
arpeggios, exercises and etudes. On the organ
and on the stringed instruments a prolonged tone
can be sustained unchanged in quality and be connected to
another tone; not so on the pianoforte, where only a makeshift
legato can be obtained. As no two pianofortes are exactly alike
in their mechanism, so, in the attaining of legato, the touch
must necessarily vary somewhat with the instrument played.
Mere connection of tone, alone, will not produce legato, which
is attained not only by the connection of tone but by the avoid-
ance of an effect of attacked tone, which in opposition to
is
slurred legato cantabile. A succession of connected tones

may be produced on the pianoforte with such an attack of each
tone that the tones sound staccato. The reverse also is true:
connected tones may be played in such a manner that they
sound staccato. Legato should be practised with staccato-
touch and staccato with legato-touch, as well as in the usual
way.
Several of our most noted pianists produce some of their
effects through this legato produced with staccato-touch (to coin
a new expression). Hosenthal plays with a
staccato-touch supplemented with the pedal, iega to effect
with staccato-
and by this means gains distinctness of articula-
tion and brilliancy, and the organist Guilmant
often used a staccato touch for clarity in legato passages. In
all pianoforte playing the attainment or failure of an effect
should be judged, not by the appearance of notes, fingers

and keys, but by the audible result of their use. Legato tones
are legato only when they sound and the pianist should
legato,
cultivate, above all else, an acute, and hearing ear.
critical
Practical conditions also aid in determining the manner
of execution. The degree of sonority and of mechanical
perfection in the instrument used and the size unmusical
and acoustics of the concert hall necessarily must conditions
be taken into consideration in public performance. Many
things extraneous to the composition may influence the touch.
For instance, an organist playing on the great organ at Music
Hall, in Cincinnati, finds it desirable, on account of the im-
mense distance of the instrument from the audience, to play
all legato passages with staccato touch, in order that they should
sound legato. Legato-playing, true, unattacked connection of

tone, as the organist would hear it, would result in blurred tone,
as heard by the audience. To cite another case: the organist
accompanying the May Festival Chorus in this hall invariably
has to face the unpleasant and the unmusical fact that in order
to make a good ensemble with the choral and orchestral bodies,
which are situated much nearer than he to the audience, he
is obliged to play about a beat ahead of what he hears. He
is compelled to violate his own sense of hearing, and to anticipate,
in his playing, the conductor's beat as seen in the mirror, and
isguided as to the ensemble by his experience as gained at

rehearsals; otherwise the audience would hear the organ tones
approximately a beat after they heard the same notes sang
by the other instruments and by the voices. These, of course,
are exceptional and extreme cases of playing in one way in
order that the music may sound, not as the player hears it, but
as he desires his auditors to hear it.
Finger-staccato and finger-legato are two different ways
of using the same touch; the attack is the same, the difference
staccato vs. tying wholly in the manner of ending the tone,
legato There are many grades of staccato, varying from
a slight detachment of the tones, where the unwritten rests
(called for by the staccato marks) are short, to a very crisp,
sharp staccato, where the rests between the tones are longer, and
the tones themselves are of short duration. The old Stuttgart
schoolis largely responsible for the erroneous idea that staccato
notes should always be played from the wrist. Both staccato

and legato may be produced in any way desired from finger,
wrist or arm, finger-touch being by far the most frequently
needed.
The martellato touches,both staccato and legato, consist
of rather loud, hammered, and somewhat brassy tone, produced
Marteiiato by the fingers reinforced by the strength of the
first, be no movement of
touches hand. There should, at
wrist or arm. From these four touches come an infinite variety,
shading from ppp to ff and from a very short staccato to the
most sustained legato.
To get rich, sonorous tones such as are employed in playing
cantabile, play the keys with the fleshy part of the ringers and
Cantabiie: go deep into the keys with weight from the
arm touch forearm and often from the shoulder, so as to
induce the full vibrations of the strings. It is best not to
play from a height but from near the keys. This cantabile
touch is superior to those in which arm touch is omitted,
and cannot be imitated by any self-playing mechanism except
the Welte-Mignon piano. It is recommended by Beethoven,
who said " Place the hands over the keyboard in such a position
:
that the fingers need not be raised more than is necessary.

This is the only method by which the player can learn to gen-
erate tone and, as it were, to make the instrument sing."
These fundamental positions are, however, by no means
the only ones which the hand and fingers may take.
Modern employ the arm very largely in Thumb on tip.
pianists
combination with these touches. In fact, some standing hand
pianists use arm weight continually. However, the touch and the
position to be assumed are determined by the musical and
technical demands of the passage, and the best means to secure
the effect desired should be chosen. When the thumb is used
alternately on white and on black keys it is often well to play
with an undulating wrist, which should be held low when play-
ing on the white keys and raised high when a black key is to be
used. A good illustration of this manner of playing is to be
found in the left-hand part of Chopin's F minor Etude, Op. 10.
EXAMPLE 160
The middle C may be played by the thumb lying in normal

position, on the wrist dropped low; and the Z>b may be
its side,
struck with the point of the thumb while the wrist is elevated.
Even a standing hand may often be employed to advantage,
as in glissando, where the player breaks the continuity of the
run just before the final tone, in order to give it melodic force,
and strikes the key with the tip of the finger, the wrist raised
high above the keyboard.
In legato playing all effort at tone production should
cease the instant that the tone is sustained, and the muscles
should feel elastic and the joints loose. The wasted
effort
greater the feeling of ease in tone production the
more control has the player of quality and quantity of tone.
With complete relaxation combined with properly directed
weight great volume of tone can be produced with almost no
effort. Examination of and experiment with a model piano-

action such as pictured on page 160 convincingly proves that
when in producing tone a key is put down to its lowest depth,
additional pressure exerted against it produces no movement
of any part of the action or of the string, and consequently that
no alteration in tonal quality and no addition to tonal quan-
tity ensues (although, as shown in the preceding chapter,
much can be done to alter the tone by judicious manipulation
and falling key and of the pedals, so as to control
of the rising
harmonics by means of the dampers, while preventing the ham-
mer from re-attacking the string).
A main technical requisite is that there shall be no stiffness
of any joint, neither of knuckle, wrist, elbow, shoulder, nor
Rigidity.
neck. Then the muscles are necessarily elastic.
Affectation A
loose wrist is most easily obtained by thinking
of the shoulder and elbow joints and seeing that they are flexible,
in which case the wrist automatically becomes flexible; while
a too concentrated attention upon the wrist itself often actually
produces stiffness instead of flexibility. (A somewhat similar
psychological condition affects the automobilist, who, for the
first time guiding his machine, finds it necessary in order to
avoid collision with an approaching team to cease his desperate

attempts at avoidance, and to direct his attention to some other
object.) Especially should the thumb feel easy in the joints
and be flexible in movement. It should experience no sense of
strain or of effort. A rigid thumb is often the cause of a stum-
bling performance, for a continuous physical rigidity produces
mental immobility and anxiety and not only prevents the
expression of musical feeling but even strangles the feeling
itself. When a player of emotional gift plays with undue
muscular tension, expending more strength than is needed
(and this often occurs, especially in cantabile passages, when
he vainly tries to press out more tone after the full tone already
has been elicited), the subsequent relaxation, necessary in
order to be able to produce beautiful tones, often is accompanied
by obtrusive rotary movements of wrist, elbow and shoulder
joints, and by awkward motions of the head and even of the
whole body, mannerisms which usually are attributed incor-

rectly to "affectation." These movements are merely strenuous
efforts at relaxation while at the same time maintaining the
tension. Unnecessary muscular pressure also tends to pinch
and to harden the quality of tone and to make impossible a
large sonority.
Although there should not be a vain effort to press out
additional tone when
the tone has already been produced, yet
there are both musical and mechanical reasons After-pressure
why the fingers should not be completely relaxed ofkey
after each tone or each short passage. Unrelated single tones
and articular subdivisions have no meaning, and even isolated
subdivisions have but little meaning in themselves, though
these are enjoyed in their relation to the entire phrase, which
is heard moving onward to a more complete expression in
succeeding phrases as well as in its relation to the composition
as a whole. Responsively, the muscular pressure of the fingers
and the weight of the hand and arm naturally adjust them-
selves to the prevailing fluent tension of the phrase, and
a certain desirable amount of elastic after-pressure ensues.
Mechanically necessary, a certain amount of pressure
also, is
or weight of the finger on the key, in order to make a suffi-
ciently firm point of departure from which the next playing
finger may obtain support. As a rule, only the gifted student
overdoes the matter of key pressure; his imagination makes
him hear vividly that which he presses the key to obtain,
namely, clearly defined and rich crescendo of the tones. The
prosaic, unmusical student does not consult his imagination.
Piano-tone is what he hears and all he strives for, and his
study of tone-color is modeled exclusively after tone he has
produced and is producing, and never after ideal tone conceived
within himself. With experience, the talented player will
overcome his technical fault, but the matter-of-fact pianist
can never become an artist.
All the force of pressure should be felt on the key, which
bears the entire weight of the stroke from the fleshy part of the
finger-tip, in which there should be a conscious sense of weight,
of intelligent firmness and easy power, sensitively delicate or
generously large, corresponding with the quantity of tone

Bending in of needed. Undesirable bending in of a joint, most
jomts
frequently of the nail-joint, is caused by permitting
some of the force to waste itself in the joint. With the proper
placing of the full weight on the key, this trouble vanishes.

"
Although the words "pressure" and weight" are used
interchangeably by musicians, in some respects "weight" is
Pressure. the preferable term, because "pressure" is apt
weight ^ o be mistaken by pupils as meaning excessive
additional pressure on the key after producing tone, rather than

in its true meaning of tone-producing pressure.
A fault much more common than undue key-pressure, and
often combined with it, is that of unconsciously employing
Tone produced by simultaneously two opposed forces, namely, force
downward motion
w
hi c h produces tone and force which prevents
tone production. Since it is necessary for the fingers to rise
sufficiently topermit tone to cease, as well as in order that
they may be able to descend on the key from varying heights
proportionate to the desired force of the stroke, it is important
that raising of the fingers be practised and taught. Tone
is produced exclusively by downward motions of the fingers,
or of the fingers with added hand and arm weight. When finger-
touch is employed, the fingers usually should be raised swiftly
and lightly and should instantly descend with vigor, the two
movements merging insensibly into one. Analogous to this is
the rise and fall of the arm in tacking down a carpet. The
arm goes up with elastic ease and comes down forcefully.
The upward movement being merely accessory to the down-
ward expenditure of energy, all the thought is given to pound-
ing down the tack, and none to raising the arm. Similarly,
in producing tone the thought should be of making the key
speak by putting it down, not of raising the finger, for, though

necessary, this motion does not produce tone. The feeling
should be wholly one of muscular energy expended in downward
motion.
In piano-playing, all motion of the fingers, hand and arm
is downward motion producing tone, or is preparatory to

either
downward motion. Hence the expressions, " prepare the
"
thumb," prepare the fingers." Preparation may
be made by raising the fingers above the keys
or by carrying them laterally across the keys. All preparation
should be made quickly, easily, lightly and confidently, and
always with the mind concentrated upon the desired tone and
the immediate act of striking the key, then the tone-producing
downward movements will be full of vigor and without strain.
The muscles which move the fingers down and up are in opposed
pairs. Those which make the fingers go down are called
flexors, and are on the under side of the forearm. Those which
raise the fingers are called extensors, and are on the upper
side of the forearm. These muscles are connected with the fin-
gers by means of tendons. The finger should not employ

simultaneously both flexor and extensor muscles, since these
then work in opposition and stiffness is the result. In such case
the greater the force exerted by the extensor muscle the harder
the opposed flexor will have to work, first to resist the force
of the extensor with an equal force, and then to supply suffi-
cient additional force to lower the key and produce tone of
the required volume. When the flexor is used without inter-
ference from the opposed extensor, this being passive, the
finger moves with promptness, easily, and entirely without
stiffness,with tonal volume in proportion to the downward
expenditure of energy. Of course, stiffness is caused also by
excessive and unnecessarily prolonged use Oi flexor force, as in
undue key pressure, for then the extensors have to work too
hard to raise the fingers. The shoulder and arm, which, like
the fingers, are supplied with muscles of opposed function, should
be carefully watched so as to avoid stiffness or tension of these
parts, since upon the freedom of all the muscles of the entire
playing apparatus depends the ease of playing, and where there
is the slightest lack of physical ease the musical feeling will
be impaired. The shoulder muscles should never be stiffened,
nor should the shoulder be pushed forward and upward, as
often happens, nor should the hand or arm be held rigidly quiet.
When the extensors

are employed at the same time as their
opposed flexors, a great and unnecessary burden is placed
upon the flexors. Students often raise their fingers to an extreme
height and with such uncompromising force that the opposing
muscles which pull the fingers down can barely muster enough
force to make the fingers reach the keys, thus causing uncer-
tainty of attack, uneven tone, and stammering performance.
Not among the least of the evils following in the train of this
habit of stiffening are the pupil's consequent discouragement
and lack of self-confidence, for stiffness prevents him from
hearing well, and gives him physical discomfort besides. Often
lamed hands and arms from opposing the muscles and
result
then trying to gain strength and to increase the volume of tone.
It is common fault for players to miss notes because the
a
flexors cannot overcome the powerful upward strain of the ex-
tensors, and so they lack strength to depress the keys and some-
times cannot even reach down to them. Sometimes the stiffly
moving fingers leave the keys and mount slightly into the
air, vainly striving to reach the keys while expending a greater
amount of muscular energy in upward motion than in down-
ward motion. Even in public recitals by professed artists we
sometimes find it difficult to hear all the notes 6f a passage
intended to be sonorous and brilliant, the performer mistakenly
supposing that the harder he works the larger the tone will be,
when, in fact, the contrary is the case. Sonorous tone is pro-
duced only when there is a dominant feeling of ease and power
combined with intense inner hearing of such tone, and with a
fervent need of hearing it outwardly expressed. Never should
the directing inner conceptional hearing waver or falter for
even the fraction of a second, for at the instant of such lapse,
and in proportion to the completeness of the lapse, the per-
formance becomes shallow and uninteresting, feeling is reduced
to artificial expression, the flow of the cantabile vanishes, soft
tone is converted to feeble and uncertain utterance, sonorous
tone is transmuted to noisy loudness, passage-work becomes
rough and uneven, speed slackens, and self-consciousness takes

the place of inspiration.
Every position of the hand and fingers, and all touches,

whether of muscle or of weight, which facilitate musicianly
playing, are good. The mind should be receptive, Rubinstein's
fir st-touch
so that the playercarefully weigh the
may
possible advantages of any mode of playing which is new to
him. In order to bring out the orchestral coloring demanded
by a composition Rubinstein on one occasion even struck an
octave in the bass with both fists but then he was Rubin-
stein !
"
The Practice makes perfect," applies to
sage proverb,
every and especially in music is technical virtuosity de-
art,
manded. Emerson finely expresses this thought " The friction
:
in nature is so enormous that we cannot spare any power. It

is not question to express thought, to elect our way, but to
overcome resistances of the medium and material in every-

thing we do. Hence the use of drill, and the worthlessness of
amateurs to cope with practitioners. Six hours every day at
the piano, only to give facility of touch; six hours a day at
painting, only to give command of the odious material, oil,
ochres, and brushes. The masters say, that they know a master
in music, onlyby seeing the pose of the hands on the keys; so
and vital an act is the command of the instrument."
difficult
"I have to be diligent," said John Sebastian Bach.
INDEX
Accent, 1, 6, 19, 46, 91; marks of, 4; Appoggiatura 73-88, 70, 71, 116;
meanings of, grammatical,
20; definition of, 73, 74, 75, 76; con-
rhetorical, 96; rhythmical, 110; fused with grace note, 73, 76, 78,
melodic, 111. 80; always a weighted dissonance,
Accentuation, varied, 116. 73, 74, 75, 77; in trill, 70; not an
Accuracy, pianistic, 216. embellishment, 74, 76, 77, 79, 80;
Acoustics of concert hall, 223. written as a small note, 73, 76, 77,
Acciaccatura, 76, 79, 80, 81; of two 78, 83 ; written as a large note, 77,
kinds, 55; meaning of, 55; disso- 78; prepared, 75; is an unprepared
nant or consonant, 77; confused suspension, 75, 77, 80; of dynamic
with appoggiatura, 78, 80; not an importance, 74; requires resolu-
obsolete ornament, 79, 80. tion, 80, 85; irregular resolution
Acciaccatura-Arpeggio, 54-62, 85, of, 76; always extraneous to the
201; not always symbolized, 53; harmony, 77, 79, 80; derivation
notation 63; written in
of, 54, 55, of, 76;correct notation of, 81, 82;
large and
in small notes, 12, 20, notation in old editions, 77 incor- ;
55, 61, 200; found only in piano rectly written as grace note, 81,
music, 55, 63; in Beethoven's Op. 82, 83, 85; is itself the principal
57, 26; long-sustained tones writ- tone, 80; long appoggiatura, 78,
ten as grace notes, 61, 62, 79, 80, 79, 80; short appoggiatura, 78, 80;
140, 200. not a grace note, 79, 80; in sixths,
Acciaccatura grace note, unsus- 116; rendering of, 77, 83, 84;
tained embellishing note, 55, 63, Beethoven's emphasis of, 96;
79, 80, 123; character but not difficulty of resolving, 88; double
duration of acciaccatura arpeg- appoggiatura, 132; notes with
gio, 61, 63, 64, 65, 79, 80, 82; almost the character of appoggia-
a note without value, 63 notation ; turas, 135, 136.
of, 64. Arm, 27, 225; action of, 24; heavy,
Action, see Piano, mechanism of. 117; glide of, 219.
jEolian harp, 135; tones, 209. Armonioso, 112.
Affectation of pianists, 226, 227. Arpeggiated chords, played as solid
Alle Saiten, 191. chords, 9, 18, 91, 94, 95, 101, 111,
Amateurs, 227. 128, 129, 130, 146, 147; eight
Armonioso, 111, 112. ways of writing, 54; representing
Analogy between poetry and music, one voice, 19; representing many
1. voices, 18.
Analysis, 3. Arpeggio, signs of, 53, 55; arpeggio
Ancient writing, 1. strappata, 56; undulating, 113;
Appearance, of notes and their arpeggio legato, 114; with pedal,
sound, 223. 114, 115.
233
234 INDEX
Articular subdivisions, 4, 34, 45, 49. Bach, J. S., Continued

Articulate character of music, 4. Part I, 99; F major, Part II, 100,
Articulation, 1, 46, 126, 223; pur- 101 ;
G major, Part II, 99.
poses of, 4; symbolization of, 4; Bacon, Sir Francis, Quotations from:
general indication of, 4; not al- investigation, 25; discord, 76.
ways symbolized, 4; symbols of, Bagpipe, 185.
5; a necessity, 36; notation of, 43; Bar, 2.
distinct, 216. Barrett and Stainer's Dictionary, 78,
Attack, of tone, 31, 32; of hammer 80.
on string, 35; manner of, 218, Bass, 60, 128, 130, 173; to find, 12,
224. 13; in form of grace notes, 12, 13;
Auditor's enjoyment, 7, 32, 224. wrongly conceived, 14; written as
Automobilist, 226. sixteenth note, held as quarter
note, 14; held by fingers and
Bach, C. Ph. E., Quotations from: pedal, 108; melodically signifi-
embellishments, 69; appoggia- cant, 109; not always lowest
turas, 76. note, 128.
Bach, J. S., 6, 69, 89, 118, 167, 212; Beethoven, Karl van, 92.
Quotations from: cantabile play- Beethoven, Ludwiq van, 31, 103,
ing, 95; diligence, 227. Instru- 118, 127, 144, 155, 165, 212; his
mentation of his music, 142; use of staccato dot as accent
unedited compositions, 167; his mark, 19; his use of slur, 31, 32,
program music, 203; his use of 34; his careful notation, 33; his
thumb, 220; his scale fingering, unwritten rests, 50; his rhetoric,
220. Compositions by: Air of the 50; his cesura, 50, 51; his fer-
Postilion, 203; Capriccio on the mata, 51, 52; his declamation,
Departure of a Very Dear 52, 53; his playing of appoggia-
Brother, 203; Chromatic Fan- turas, 84; his comments on
tasie, 112, 113, 114, 217; English Cramer's studies, 91-93; his
Suite in D minor, 185; Fantasie treatment of suspensions, 111;
in C minor, for organ, 185; his enjoyment of the minor
French Suite in major, 92; G second, 111; his music orchestral,
Fugue in Imitation of the Post- 127; his legato with pedal, 164;
horn, 203; Inventions, preface to, original text of his sonatas, 189;
95; Partita in A
minor, 99, 100, his desire for color, 190, 192; his
116; Partita in C minor, 71, 72, playing, 224, 225. Quotations
116; Partita in G major, 83; from: nuances, 7; notation, 33;
Prelude in C minor, 93, 94, 111, errata, 64; melody, 92, 93;
112. Well-tempered Clavichord, measure, 92; Pastoral Symphony,
184, 216; Preludes from: C major, 143; broken chords, 224, 225; to
Part I, 94, 95, 111; C major, generate tone, 224, 225. Quota-
Part II, 15, 19; C minor, Part I, tions about: by d' Albert, 25, 40;
1 84 ;C sharp minor, Part I, 16, 17; Schindler, 38, 50, 51, 53, 86, 111;
Fugues from: C sharp major, Biilow, 101, 186; Czerny, 165,
INDEX 235
Beethoven, Continued Bowing Signs, in piano music, 23-

188, 189; Shedlock, 188, 189; 45, 47, 48; in violin music, 25-
Wagner, 51, 52. Compositions by: 27, 28, 34, 37, 38, 41, 47.
CONCERTOS, 187; in B flat major, Brass Band, 25.
188; in C major, 48; in C minor, Breath Mark, see Punctuation.
165, 166, 187, 201; in major, G Brilliancy, 223.
190, 195; in E
flat major, 72, 198. Broadwood's Cloven Foot Pedal,
QUARTET, Op. 132, 33. SONATAS, 187.
Op. No. 2, 62; Op. 2, No. 3, 48;

2, Browning, Robert, Quotation from,
Op. No. 1, 50, 51; Op. 10, No.
10, 86, 87.
2, 44; Op. 10, No. 3, 109; Op. Bulow, Hans von, 37, 111, 158; his
13, 43, 44, 179; Op. 14, No. 2, 97; use of staccato dot as accent
Op. 26, 188; Op. 27, No. 2, 188, mark, 19; editions by, 21, 22, 56,
189; Op. 31, No. 3, 38; Op. 53, 114, 122; his fingering, 220; his
39, 188, 195; Op. 54, 30, 42; Op. editions forbidden, 22 his amaze- ;
57, 37, 39, 56, 97, 111, 195, 196, ment, 88; his playing of trills, 72.
201; Op.Sla, 47; Op. 90, 48, 49; Quotations from: instrumentation
Op. 101, 41, 186; Op. 106, 191; of piano music, 25; rendition, 28;
Op. 110, 40; Op. Ill, 40, 41. SONG, non legato, 38, 39, 40; pearly
In Questa Tomba, 153. SYM- touch, 39; meno legato, 40; slurs,
PHONY, in C minor, 51; the Pas- 41, 43, 44, 47; phrasing, 47;
toral, 143; VARIATIONS, On a phonograph, 88; Beethoven's
Theme by Righini, 97; On a Sonata, Op. 101, 186.
Russian Theme, 97. Buonamici, G., edition by, 22.
Berlioz, Hector, his Modern Instru- Busoni, F., editions by, 22; his new
mentation and Orchestration, 25 ; application of the down-bow
Requiem, 148; Dance of the mark, 28, 29, 30; his Elegien,
Sylphs, 182; Letter to Steinway, 28; Quotations from: the in-
209. Quotations from: divines terpreter, 7; transcription, *7;
music before reading, 2; violin sostenuto pedal, 184.
bowing, 25-27; instrumentation
of piano, 141 ; cacophonic chords, Cantabile, 23, 30, 95, 221, 222, 224,
209; pedals, 214. 226.
Bernhardt, Sarah, 46. Cadenza, 176, 184.
Bibliography, see Pedals. Celeste, see Pedals.
Blurring, 133; imperceptible, 131; Chaminade, C., 167.
dramatic effects by means of, 211, Chopin, F., 87, 93, 127, 172, 212;
212. his notation, 6, 127; his use of
Boekelmann, B., 88. the staccato dot, 19; his use of
Booth, Edwin, 1. slurs, 31; of rests, 50; of vertical

Bow, 25, 26, 27, 34; down bow, 28, slur, 57; of embellishing runs, 66,
29. 122, 124, 126, 131; of pedal, 137;
Bowed Stringed Instruments, 25- preparation for playing Chopin,
27, 36, 128. 118; Klind worth and Kullak
236 INDEX
Chopin, Continued dementi, M., 89, 217.

editions, 119; his music pianistic, Cocks, R. C., 165.
126, 127, 142; A Theme Inter- Coloring, see Tone.
preted, 118-138; characteristic Composers, see Names of Persons.
triplet, 125; fingering, 220, 221. Composers do not
of poetry, 4;
Quotations from: sing, if you wish think of notation, 21; are writers
to play, 66; tempo rubato, 137; of vocal and orchestral music, 23;
legato, 170; pedal, 215. Quo- do not use slurs to outline phrases,
tations about: by Huneker, 118, 31; their notation of pedal, 11,
127; Liszt, 119, 120, 125, 127, 12, also see Pedals; their use of
136, 137, 138; Heine, 126; Mikuli, slurs, 34.
137; Moscheles, 132; Rosenthal, Con discrezione, 198; con sordino, see
6; Schumann, 136; Streicher, Pedals; Con Pedale, see Pedals.
137. Compositions by: BALLAD, Conception, 28, 45, 143, 176. See
in A flat, 107. BERCEUSE, 61, Musical Inspired, 6; inadequately
144, 197, 212. ETUDES, A flat notated, 6; orchestral, 216; mir-
major, 122; C major, 97; C rored in the interpretation, 220.
minor, 212; F major, 102, 103; Concords, 106.
F minor, 225. FUNERAL MARCH, Conductor, anticipated by organist,
211. SONG, Meine Freuden, 168, 223.
173, 174. NOCTURNES, Op. 9, No. Connection of Tone, see Legato,
1, 120-134, 102, 119, 124, 129, Tone, Touch.
132, 146; Op. 15, No. 1, 177; Op. Consonance, 74, 75.
15, No. 2, 66; Op. 37, No. 1, 89, Contrapuntal Flow, 116.
90; Op. 55, 55, 108, 185. RONDO, Control, 216.
Op. 16, 183. SONATA, B flat Copyist, see Errors.
minor, 211. VARIATIONS, B flat, Corno, 203.
Op. 12, 67. Couperin, F., his use of small notes,
Chord, Six-four closing a phrase, 14; 69; his notation of arpeggio
considered vertically, 104, 105; legato, 114.
variation in chord color, 106; Cramer, J. B., 86, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93,
chord of the seventh, 104, 105, 94, 110, 217; Beethoven's com-
131; broken chord, see Arpeg- ments on his Etudes, 91-93.
giated; undulation of, 136. Czerny C., 164; his legatissimo,
Chords, considered horizontally, 111; his Grand School for the
106; solid, 96, 146; orchestrally Pianoforte, 155; his Letters to a

played, 201 ; of the 7th and 9th, Young Lady, 221; his Etudes,
105, 129; cacophonic, 209. 111, 127, 155, 166, 188, 189, 217.
Chorus of the May Festival of Cin- Quotations from: Beethoven's
cinnati, 223. pedaling, 165; Senza Sordino,
Clarinet, 25. 188, 189; fingering, 220, 221.
Clavichord, 68, 69.
Clavier Playing, 68. D''Albert, editions by, 21, 38, 40,
Clef, 2. 42, 43, 44. Quotations from:
INDEX 237
D' Albert, Continued Editions, Continued

Instrumentation on the piano, 22, 112, 114, 119; carelessly no-
25. tated, 167.
Dampers, see Piano, mechanism of, Editorial Elaboration, 4, 12, 40, 41,
and Pedals. 43, 45, 49, 50, 140. See Notation.
Damper Pedal, see Pedals. Eine Saite, see Pedals.
Debain's Prolongment, 182. Elementary Sounds, 2.
Debussy, C., his use of slurs, 131; Elements of Musical Language, 4.
Arabesque in E major, 175; Re- Elocution, 1.

flections in the Water, 212. Elson's Dictionary, 78, 79.
Declamation, 52, 53, 119, 216. See Embellishments, see Acciaccatura
Rendition, Piano-reciting. grace note, Mordent, Slide, Trill,
De Pachmann, see Pachmann. 63-72, 79, 112, 120 212, 122, 123,
?
Detached Notes, 26, 27, 35, 36, 37, 124, 125, 132, 135, 136; for voice,
lightly detached and
39, 40, 49; 125; for Clavier, 68, 69; vocal
markedly detached notated the conception of, 69, 170; may be
same, 26, 27. See Staccato. omitted, 69; originally written
Diligence, 228. in small notes, 70; rendering of,
Discord, 70, 71, 73, 106. 72; embellishing runs, 66, 67, 124,
Dissonance, 74, 75, 140. 125, 132, 135, 136. Quotations
Dot, see Staccato. about: by Leigh Hunt, 67; C.
Down-Beat, 23, 30. Ph. E. Bach, 69.
Drill, use of, 228. Emerson, R. W., Quotation from:
Drone Bass, 185. technic, 228.
Drum, 25. Emotion, the primitive, Quotation
Due Corde, see Pedals. from: Busoni, 7.
Duration, see Note, Notes, Nota- Emotional depth, 7.

tion, Acciaccatura. Relative, 8; Emphasis, 1, 6, 46. Encyclopaedia
to point out, 10; symbolized, 11; Britannica, 155.
not indicated with precision, 51; English Horn, 25, 214.
different note-values of equal Ensemble Playing, 216.
duration, 10, 11, 13, 14, 62. Errors, of transcribers, 14; in music
Dynamic Signs, 4, 143. journals, 24, 32, 33; in Diction-
aries, 35, 36, 78-80, 168; of copy-
Ear, 8, 32; inner ear, 88, 219; hear- ists and engravers, 33, 64, 72, 73,
ing ear, 88, 116, 119, 194, 223; is 167.
arbiter of effects, 214; critical, Etudes, 217, 222.
223. Execution, notation of conception
Echo Effect, see Pedals. complicated with that of execu-
Editions, moderately symbolized, tion, 10, 12, 22; dependent upon
5; original and annotated, 5, 21, player's general style, 21. See
22, 119; poor, 21; comparison of Rendition.
texts, 21, 22, 38; pianist should Exercises, 222.
make his own, 21; old, 73; fine, Expression, purposes of, are exact, 2.
238 INDEX
Faelten, C., 159. Gorno, Albino, his Material for the

Feeling, intuitive, 7; for orchestral Study of the Pianoforte Pedals,
color, 25. 108, 152, 157, 158, 169, 171, 172,
Fermata, 14, 51, 52. See Pauses, 174, 175, 177, 178, 180, 201, 202,
Punctuation. 204, 205, 206, 208, 213, 214;
Field, J., 108, 118, 127, 165, 166. Quotations from: function of the
Finck, H. T., his Success in Music damper pedal, 169; to teach
and How it is Won, 139. pedaling, 169.
Figures, 3, 4. Grace Note, see Acciaccatura grace
Finger, legato, 145,222; almost note.
straight, 218; on consecutive Grammatical, analysis, 3; accent, 6.
keys, 221, 225; staccato, 221, 224; Grieg, E. H., 118; To the Spring, Op.
sensitive, 222; on fleshy tip, 224; 43, 217; Peer Gynt Suite, 57, 58,
pianissimo practice with, 222. 165; his notation of bass notes,
See Thumb, Touch. 57, 58; use of vertical slur, 57, 58,
Fingers, 24, 114, 142, 174, 218, 220; 165.
unable to sustain bass note, 11; Group of Notes, 3.
various offices of, 27, 28; shifting Grove's Dictionary, 78, 155; quoted
on a key, 108, 168, 174, 175, 177; errors from, 35, 36, 79, 80.
independence of, 116, 119; dex- Guilmant, A. F., his staccato touch
terity of, 119; used to connect in legato passages, 223.
and sustain, 174; in contact with Guitar, 143.
keys, 218; turned over one
another, 221; trained, 220. Haberbier, 118.
Fingering, 38, 173, 175, 217, 219, Halle, Sir Charles, on Chopin's
221, 222. playing and his notation, 127.
Flutes, 118. Hamlet, 45.
Fioriture, 125. Hand, 24; in scale playing, 146;
Fiske, M. M., 46. weighted on outside, 146; left
Fist-Touch, 227. hand part played with both
Flonzaley Quartet, 32. hands, 146; small, 198; position
Foot, 24. of, 217; inclined outward, 218,
Foote,A. W., 158. 219; inclined inward, 219, 220;

Forearm, 24, 139, 218. standing hand, 225; Quotation
Fundamental, 208, 209, 211. See from: Emerson, 228. See Fingers,
Harmonics. Thumb, Arm, Wrist, Touch.
Handel, G. F., 69, 114.
Gaynor, J., 158. Harmonic, value, 20; skeleton, 128,
Generate Tone, 225. 129; foundation for passage, 199;
Genouillieres, see Pedals. unpleasant, 209; confusion, 212;
Glissando, 225. see Chord, Arpeggiated.
Godard, B., notation of the pedal, Harmonics, 25, 145, 146, 163, 170,
198; En Valsant, 198. 173, 208, 209, 226: dissonant, 208;
Golf, 219. esthetic use of, 209; some fainter
INDEX 239
Harmonics, Continued Instrumentalist's use of fingers, 27.

than others, 209; notated in small Instrumentation of music on piano-
notes by Schumann, 211. forte, 140, 141, 142, 148.
Harmony, 47, 127, 128; made of Instruments, see Musical Instru-
melodies, 108; characteristic tones ments.
of, 129; to bring out, 140; thin, Interpret, skill to, 128; in various
151; Quotations from: Milton, 104; ways, 83.
Beethoven, 110; Schumann, 117. Interpretation, cannot symbolize
Harp, Harmonics of, 25; overlap- shades of, 7; of artists, 22, 25;
ping tones of, 111. subjective, 45; dependent upon
Harpsichord, 68, 69. conception, 143, 220. Quotation
Harpsichordists, 114. from Rubinstein, 45.
Haydn, Sonata in E flat, 67, 68; Interpreter, poetic vision of, 7;

Sonata in C sharp minor, 84; soft resolves the signs, 7; dependent
pedal with his compositions, 180. upon knowledge, 117. Quotation
Hearing, of the imagination, 220; from Busoni, 7.
violated, 223. eeEar. Intervals, 104, 105;minor second,

Heller, S., 118, 166. to play, 86, 87, 111, 129, 135;
Henselt, A. von, If I Were a Bird, minor third, 133.
115; Etudes, 118. Italian Terminology, misunder-
Herz, H., 127. stood, 21, 23.
Hipkins, A. J., writings of, 155. Investigate, how to, 25. Quotation
Hofmann, Josef, hisPiano Playing, from Bacon.
157; Quotations from: piano-recit-
ing, 45; pedals, 193, 194. mechanism
Jack, see Piano, of.
Horn, 140, 141, 152, 153, 203.
Jensen, Adolf, 118.
Hughes' Dictionary, 78, 80.
Johns, Clayton, 157.
Hummel, N., composer-performer, Joints, flexible, 220, 225, 226.
127. Grand School for the Piano-
forte, 155.
Huneker, J., 127; Quotations from: Keats, J., Quotation from Hyperion,
The Greater Chopin, 118. 123.
Hunt, Leigh, Quotation from: his Kelso,HughA., 157.

Paganini, 67. Kempel, 33.
Key, Keyboard, see Piano, mechan-
Ideal Musical Effect, symbolized, ism of.
2, 9, 24, 219, 220. King Lear, 45.

Imagination, 7, 220. Klindworth, editions by, 21, 22, 42,
Imitation of orchestral instrument, 62, 108, 119, 126.
9. Knee Pedal, see Pedals, Damper
Imitations, 16, 62, 151. Pedal.
Inner Ear, 88. Knuckle, 222.
Instruction, faulty in books and Kohler, Clara Heberlein, Quotation
journals, 24, 32, 33, 36, 78-80, 168. from, 155, 156.
240 INDEX
Kohler, Louis, 62; works on the Liszt, Franz, his use of the staccato
pedal, 155, 156; pedal notation, dot, 19, 20; editions by, 21, 22,
158. 190; his legatissimo, 111; his
Kubelik, Jan, 32. instrumentation on the piano,
Kullak, Adolf, his Aesthetics of 142; his notation of the pedal,
Piano Playing, 157. 167; his use of the pedal, 172, 180,
Kullak, Franz, his edition of Bee- 189; his orchestral effects, 212,
thoven's Concertos, 187. 213; his fingering, 220. Quota-
Kullak, Theodore, edition of tions from Liszt: Chopin's new
Chopin's works, 119. forms, 119, 120, his embellish-
Kunkel, Piano Pedal Method, 158. ments, 125, analysis of his works,
127, indeterminate contour, 136,
137; letters about the pedals, to
Language of Music, 7, 8, 50, 54;
Schmitt, 156, 157, to Kohler, 156,
compared with speech, 2; sym- to Stein way, 182. Compositions:
bolized, 2, 6, 45; elements of, 4;
Ballad in B flat minor, 211; Con-
knowledge of, 8; hieroglyphic, 45. solation in D
flat, 182; Etudes,
Quotations from: Schumann, 6;
217; Gretchen at the Spinning
Mendelssohn, 7; Rubinstein, 45;
Wheel, 212; Meine Freuden, 173,
Wagner, 45. See Declamation,
174; Orage, 211 Venezia e Napoli,
;
Piano-reciting, Notation, Punc-

185.
tuation, Phrasing.
Longfellow, H. W., 6.
Law, F. S., 157.
Lowe, 127.
Leading Tone, 131. Lyric Songs, 216.
Legatissimo, see Superlegato, and
111, 116. MacDowell, Edward, 31.
Legato, see Bowing Signs, Touch, Mandolin, 143.
Staccato, and 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, Mannerisms, cause of, 226, 227.
30, 111, 165, 170, 218, 221, 222, Marmontel, A. F., Quotation about
225; musical meaning of, 24; pedals, 193.
absence of attack, 31; denned, 31, Martellato, 36, 162, 224.
32, 35, 36; of Flonzaley Quartet, Mason, William, 157.
32, 222; of Kubelik, 32; vocal, 32; Master in Music, 228.
violinist's, 34; the fundamental Mathews and Liebling's Dictionary,
touch, 34; denned in Grove's Quotations from, 78, 80.
Dictionary, 35; impossible on May Festivals of Cincinnati, 223.
piano, 35,36, 222; martellato Measure, 3.
legato, 36; of unslurred notes, 37, Mechanical Skill, 221.
38; marked by slurs, 38, 48; meno Melodic, value, 20; stress, six ways
legato, 40; Beethoven's legato, of notating, 91; tones, connection
164, 165; legato with staccato of, 93; tones, slight rhythmical
touch, 223. value 97; lines in chord con-
of,
Leschetizky, Theodore, 157. nection, 106; inner voices, 129;

Levers, see Piano, mechanism of. purity of melodic line, 214.
INDEX 241
Melody, 47, 128, 130, 212, 214; Mordent, 64, 65.

pedal with, 11; in upper voice of Moscheles, Ignaz, 111, 127; Quota-
broken chords, 18, 90, 96, 97; tionsfrom: Chopin's playing, 132,
interlacing with other voices, 20; 133; the pedals, 192, 193; Thai-
do not blur, 60, 212, 214; essen- berg, 193. Schumann's letter to
tial, 89; hidden by form of nota- Moscheles, 60.

tion, 89-103, 139, 140; to bring Moszkowski, Moritz, his In Autumn,
out, 92; in an inner voice, 98; 212.
accompanied by self-made har- Motive, 2, 3, 4. See Phrasing.
mony, 99; thematically and har- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 6, 118,
monically accompanied, 100; 155, 164; his embellishing runs,
sounding through rests, 102, 103; 68; choppy style of playing, 164.
sustained by pedal, 103; synco- Quotations from: tempo rubato,
pated, 132; treatment of, 139- 136; knee pedal, 187. Composi-
140. Quotations from: Wagner, tions: Rondo in A
minor, 68,
89; Beethoven, 93; Bach, 95; Rondo in D major, 81, Sonata in
Milton, 104, Schumann, 117. C major, 81, 82; Fantasie in D
Mendelssohn, Felix, 118, 191, 193. minor, 202.
Quotations from: Language of Mu- Mugellini, Bruno, editions by, 21,
sic, Chromatic Fantasie, 114,
7; 22.
115. Compositions: Caprice, Op. Muscles, elastic, 220, 225, 226.
33, No. 3, 192; Gondola Song, F Musette, 185.
sharp minor, 144-148; Gondola Music, a language, 1-7, 50, 54; a
Song, G minor, 148-153, 143, 194; symbolized language, 2; rhyth-
Sonata, Op. 6, 192, 198; Sonata, mic speech, 2; incompletely sym-
Op. 106, 192. Songs without bolized, 4; a miserable art without
Words; Op. 67, No. 1, 167, 174, symbols, 6; an accurate means to
197; Op. 85, 167. a definite end, 7; evolution of
Mental, subdivision, 126; pre-hear- music writing, 21, reading of, 21,
ing, 219, 220; rigidity and 45; journals and dictionaries,
anxiety, 226. quotations from, 32, 33, 157; a
Metronome, 216. hieroglyphic language, 45; decla-
Mezzo Staccato, see Staccato. mation of, 53; romantic, 118;
Mikuli, Karl, Quotation about study 216; Springer
of, Music
Chopin, 137. Hall, Cincinnati, 223.
Mind, aim it at ultimate tone in Musical, score, 2; education, 3;
swift passages, 226; receptive, groups, 4; taste, 5; knowledge, 5;
227. discourse, 6; insight and expe-
Mistakes, see Errors. rience, 6, 10, 19, 30, 216; short-
Misprints, see Errors. hand, 8; conception, 23; syllables,
Mit einer Saite, see Pedals, Soft 26; meaning of notes, 118; form,
Pedal. 139; Musical Observer, quota-
Model of Piano Action, 160, 226. tion from, 157; rendering, 28,
Monteverde, 73. 216.
242 INDEX
Musical Instruments, 4, 6, 7. See Names of Persons, Continued

brass band, clarinet, drum, Shakespeare, Stainer, Stein,
English horn, flute, guitar, harp, Steinway, Strauss, Streicher,
horn, mandolin, oboe, orchestral Thalberg, Unschuld, Venino, Vir-
instruments, organ, piano, post- gil, Wagner, Weber, Welte, Whit-
horn, reeds, trombone, trumpet, ing, Wullner, Ysaye.
violin, violoncello, stringed in- Nikisch, Arthur, 216.
struments, string quartet, wind Notation, complicated and inade-
instruments, wood-wind, bow. quate, 2, 8, 15, 40, 42, 114; sug-
Musician, 5, 215; inspired, 6; a law gestive, never fully elaborated,
unto himself, 7; play as Musician, 4, 7, 20, 34; explanatory, 6, 58;
not as virtuoso, 215; musician- implied indications in, 7, simplest,
pianist, 22, 116, 197, 214. usually clearest, 8, 18; symbolical
Musicianship, 6, 103, 139. of effects for ear and directions to
fingers and feet, 8, 22; not easy to
Names of Persons, see d' Albert, read, 9, 18, 89; diverse readings,
Bach, Ph. E., Bach, J. S., Badon, synonymous notations, 9; numer-
Bartlett, Beethoven, Karl, Bee- ous forms of, 13; confusing, 15;
thoven, Ludwig van, Berlioz, significance of, 17, 65, 69, 119,
Boekelmann, Bernhardt, Bree, 127, 143, 197; composers' modes
Browning, R., Billow, Buona- of, 21; suggesting execution, 22;
mici, Busoni, Chaminade, Chopin, employs vocal and orchestral
dementi, Cocks, Couperin, terminology, 23; of ideal effect,
Cramer, Czerny, Debain, De- 24; complete notation impossible,
bussy, Elson, Emerson, Faelten, 42; indefinite in insignificance, 58,
Field, Finck, Fiske, Flonzaley, evolution of, 73; different inter-
Foote, Gaynor, Godard, Gorno, pretations of, 83; of Chopin's
Grieg, Grove, Guilmant, Haber- music, 127. Quotations, by
bier, Handel,
Halle, Haydn, Rosenthal, 6; Busoni, 7; Rub-
Hebelein-Kohler, Heine, Heller, instein, 45; Wagner, 51, 52;
Henselt, Herz, Hipkins, Hof- Schumann, 60. See also accent,
mann, J., Hughes, Hummel, acciaccatura, appoggiatura, bow-
Huneker, Hunt, Jensen, Johns, ing-signs, chord, duration, em-
Keats, Kelso, Klindworth, bellishment, execution, harmonic,
Kohler, Kubelik, Kullak, A., harmony, language of music,
Kullak, F., Kullak, T., Kunkel, legato, melodic melody,
; music,
Daw, F. S., Leschetizky, Liszt, musical, note, notes, orches-
Loewe, MacDowell, Marmontel, tration, rendition, pedals, phrase,
Mason, Wm., Mendelssohn, phrasing, punctuation, rests, slur,
Mikuli, Monteverde, Moscheles, staccato, superlegato, symbols,
Moszkowski, Mozart, Mugellini, voices.
Niecks, Nikisch, Novello, de Note, one note may belong to
Pachmann, Paderewski, Paga- several voices, 8, 14, 17, 20.
nini, Palestrina, Prentner, Schiller, Small note, of long duration, 20,
INDEX 243
Note, Continued Palestrian, 89, 152.

73; in arpeggio, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62; Passage, notated in different ways,
character of, 63; varying dura- 8, 34; passage work, 219.
tion of, 63; as embellishment, 63, Pastoral, songs, 210; Pastoral
73 origin
; of, 73 as grace note, 73 ;
; Symphony, 143.
as appoggiatura, 78, 79, 80, 81, Pauses, 1, 5, 50; rhetorical, 5, 6, 46;
82, 83, 84. sentential, 5, 6; grammatical, 6;
Notes, correspond to vowel letters, duration of, 6; fermata, 14, 51, 52.
2; of different sizes, 4; signs of See Punctuation, Rests, Phrase,
ideas, 5, 9; apparent duration of, Phrasing.
deceptive, 14; of different values PEDALS :
and equal duration, 10, 11, 13, 14, 27, 154-215, 193; characteristic
62, 68; of contrasting size, 143. of piano, 14; disuse of, 98, 202,
Note Senza Valore, 8, 14, 17, 20. 214, 215; bibliography of, 155-
Niecks, F., 137. 159; simultaneous use of three,
Novelli, 1. 164, 185; practice stop, 179; not
Nuances, 7. auxiliaries, 192; incorrect use of,
215. Quotations from: Liszt, 156,
Oboe, 25, 140, 214. 157; Rosenthal, 158; Gorno, 169;
Octaves, parallel, 131, 133, 134; not Moscheles, 192; Berlioz, 214.
closed in bass, 208. Damper Pedal: 161-179, 57,
Operatic scores, 216. 114, 116, 136, 142, 150, 158,
Orchestra, 166. 166, 181, 190, 194, 196, 197.
Orchestral, conception, 8; trans- QUOTATIONS FROM Rubin- :
cription, 8; instruments, see stein, 154, 155; Rosenthal,

Musical Instruments; concerts, 158; Czerny, 166, 188, 189;
34; tone color, 56; effects, 13, 29, Gorno, 169, 171; Venino,
113, 204, 211, 212. 185, 193; Mozart, 187;
Orchestration, on the piano, 25, 89, Shedlock, 188, 189; Mosch-
139-153, 214; instrumentation, eles, 192, 193; Hofmann,
41; elements of, 139; poor, 148; 193; Thalberg, 193; Mar-
elaborately notated, 149. montel, 193; Schmitt, 197.
Organist, plays a beat ahead of the NAMES FOR: hand stops,
orchestra, 223, 224. divided knee pedal, divided
Organ Point, seePedal Point. foot pedal, genouillieres,
Ornaments, seeEmbellishments. 187; right-foot pedal, 194;
Overtones, see Harmonics. loud pedal, 164, 179, 188;
damper pedal, 161-164.
Pachmann, 7.^,97,216. SIGNS FOR USE AND DISUSE
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, on tempo OF: col pedale, 198, 262;
rubato, 138; his Minuet a 1'an- con sordino, 187, 188, 189;
tique, 176; his magic, 176. con sordino ad libitum,
Paganini, N., see Schumann. 188; mit Pedal, 12, 13, 198;
Painting, 227. Ped.* 12, 196, 202; Ped.*,
244 INDEX
Pedals, Continued Pedals, Continued

meaning of, 12, 115, 172, tion of, 156; function of,
186, 189, 199, 200; in- 161, 162; excessive use of,
correctly placed, 12, 89, 198; disuse of, 198; stac-
108, 115, 167; meaning of*, cato of, 201; used simul-
196, 197, 198, 203; pedal, taneously with finger, 200,
pedale, pedale grande, 202; delayed, 202; de-
molto pedal, 198; sempre pendent upon finger usage,
pedale, 12, 152, 195, 196, 202, 214.
197, 198, sempre 203; SIGNIFICANCE AND EF-
sordino, 188 sempre tenuto
;
FECTS OF: pedal indicates
per il pedale, 198; senza rest for fingers, not for
pedale, 12, 198; senza tone, 11; left to judgment

sordino, 187, 188, 189. of player, 11, 214; to sus-
NOTATION FOR: execution tain bass note, 11, 33, 59,
symbolized in, 11; pres- 60; with runs, 66; with
sure and release difficult organ point, 131; trilling of,
to indicate, 11, 23, 168, 153, 211, 213; artistic use
196,203; signs demanding of,154; soul of piano, 154,
use of, 11, 12, 14; Fed.* 193; uses of, 154, 164;
incorrectly placed, 12, 89, effect of, obtained by
108, 115, 167, 168, 189; fingers, 162, 174; primi-
general indication for, 14, tive, 164; to destroy rests,
111, 200, 202; use and dis- 171; with staccato chords,
use not indicated, 20,
of, 171, 212; alters quality of
203; pedal line, 178; com- tone, 175; to preserve
posers' notation for, Bee- legato, 178; necessary for
thoven's, 166, Chopin's, harmonic reasons, 198;
172, Kohler's, 197, Liszt's, staccato with, 201; effect
172, Schubert's, 198, 202, produced alternately by
203, Schumann's, 12, 13, hand and foot, 202; or-
172, 198; Sgambati's, 196, chestral effect with one

197, Schytte's incorrect finger, 204; silent re-
marks in his Pedal Studies, pressure of key, 204, 206,
167, 168, 169. 207; with legato melody
TECHNIC OF: release of and staccato harmony,
pedal, 1, 173; control of, 206; tones appearing of
119, 170; not pressed themselves, 209; piano
fully down, 145, 170; not trilling by itself, 210;
blur with, 146; difficult to descriptive blurring, 211,
teach, 154; modern usage, 212, 213, 214; scales with
154, 164, 166; pressure of, pedal, 213; extreme pedal
156, 171, 173; after-pedal- effects,214; different pedal-
ing, 156, 170; syncopa- ing of each artist, 214, 215.
INDEX 245
Pedals, Continued Pedals, Continued

Soft Pedal: 210; coloring, 180; used
QUOTATIONS FROM: Hof- in loud passages, 164, 179.
mann, 194; Moscheles, Sostenuto Pedal:

192, 193. QUOTATIONS FROM: Liszt,
NAMES FOR: celeste, 179, 182; Rubinstein, 180;
189; due corde stop, 190, Busoni, 184.
191, 192; left pedal, 194; NAMES FOR: Debain's pro-
muffling pedal, 179, 189; longment, 182; Pedale de
pedale d'expression, 179; prolongment, 182, 184;
pianissimo pedal, 188, 189; Sostenuto pedal, 181-186,
second pedal, 164; shift- 158, 164, 181, 183, 184,
ing pedal, 179, 182, 189; 185,186,202; Third pedal,
soft pedal, 179-181, 142, 182, 184; Steinway Third
153,158,164,181,188,189, Pedal, 182, 184.
190, 194; una corda stop, SIGNIFICANCE AND EF-
189, 190, 191, 192, 202; FECTS OF: mechanism and
Verschiebung, 192, 202. function of, 158, 164, 181,
NOTATION FOR USE OF una :
182; used simultaneously
corda, 189, 190, 191, 192, with damper and soft
202; mit einer Saite, 191; pedals, 164, 165, 184; true
mit Verschiebung, 192, sostenuto pedal, 181; par-
202; 2 et pin's 1 corde, 191. tial damper pedal, 181;
NOTATION FOR DISUSE OF, Liszt's delight in, 182;
tre corde, 190, 191; tutte with organ point, 183, 184,
le corde, 190, 191, 192, 202; 185; used instead of
tutto il cembalo, 191; damper pedal, 185; aid in
tutto il cembalo ma piano, Bach playing, 185.
191; alle Saiten, 191; Pedal Point, 130, 131, 184, 186, 197;
ohne Verschiebung, 192; inverted, 109; through entire
poco a poco tutte le corde, composition, 144, double, 129,
191; poco a poco due 145, 196, 197.
allora tutte le corde, 191; Period, 3, 20.
nach und mehrere Saiten, Persons, see Names of Persons.
191. Phrase, of grammarian, 3; of musi-
MECHANISM AND FUNC- cians, 3; and subdivisions of, 3, 24,
TION: in grand piano, 179, 46, 48; not necessarily legato, 46;
182, 190, 192, 194; in not indicated by slur, 47; mem-
upright 179;
pianos, in bers of, 48 may include rests and
;
una
square pianos, 179; of staccato notes, 49, 50; made
corda and due corde hand evident by punctuation, 50; not
stops, 187, 189, 190, 191, detached from adjoining phrases,
192, 202. 50. See Punctuation, Rests,
EFFECTS OF: echo, 181, Pauses.
246 INDEX
Phrasing, 3, 35, 36, 46-53; confused Mechanism of, Continued

with articulation, 2, 20; composer fingers and pedal, 168, 169; strings
rarely symbolizes, 30; slur not a without dampers, 181; hammers,
sign of, 30, 31; incorrect state- 27,31,32, 159, 161, 162, 163; jack,
ments about, 35, 36; not synony- 161; keyboard, 218; keys, 162,
mous with bowing, 48, 49; signs 163; a damping mechanism, 162;
of, 49. See Sentence, Phrase, keys, controlled by fingers,
27;
Pauses, Fermata,
Punctuation, pressure on, 28; deep drop of,
Rests, Declamation, Reading. 117; resistance of, 178; semi-
Pianissimo, without pedal, 192; depressed, 179; touch from near,
touch, 193. 224; pressure upon bedded, 226;
Pianist, different interpretations of levers, 27; model, 160; roller, 161;
each, 5; makes his own edition, 2; pedals, see sounding-board; 210,
she not a musician, 8, 13;
is 211; strings, 3, 27, 28; vibration
should study violinists' bowing, of, 12, 27, 145, 159, 165, 208, 211,
28, 29; of moderate accomplish- 224; two or three unison, 28,
ment, 30; relies upon incorrect hammer attack not
on, 35;
statements in books, 32; great struck yet sounding, 211, with-
208, 211, 223; of emotional gift, out dampers, 181.
226, 227; mannerisms and affec- Piano-Reciting, 45.
tations of, 226, 227; musician Pitch, 9, 28.
pianist, 22, 116, 197, 214. Pizzicato, 23, 25, 30, 36, 202.
Piano: music compressed on two Polyphonic Music, 15.
staves, 8; transcribed, 14; piano Poetic, license, 7, 65; temperament,

a percussive instrument, 31; a 119; vision of interpreter, 7; con-
medium of expression, 24; see tent, 23.
Declamation; sonority of, 69, 117, Portamento, Portando la voce,
154, 223; vocal conception of portare la voce, portamento di
music, 65, 66; modern piano, 117; voce, 23, 30, 41, 65, 66.
correct ways of playing, 21; Porthorn, 203.
qualities peculiar to, 127; or- Practice, 7, 217, 222, 227, 228.
chestral effects on, 132; methods Prentner, Marie, 157.
for, 140; music for, 140; instru- Pressure, of finger excessive, 227, 228.
mentation of, 141; the orchestra Preston, J. A., 157.
of the pianist, 152; development Printed Errors, see Errors.
of, 154; soul of, 154, 192; con- Pronunciation, 36.
tinues trill, 210; echoing power of, Proportion, 6.
210; no two pianos alike, 222; Punctuation, 5, 6, 24, 50; marks in
exceptional ways of playing, 224. written speech, 4; in written
Mechanism of: 117, 222, 179, 192; music, 6; not symbolized, 5;
action, 28, 117, 159, 160, 223, 226; breath mark, 6, 146. Riemann's
dampers, 27, 159, 161, 164, 168, marks of, 31; slur not a mark of,
169, 181, 197, 190, 191, 197, 198, 32, 49; close and open, 52. See
214, 226; dampers controlled by pauses.
INDEX 247
Quartet, stringed, 28, 128, 166; Quotations from: Continued

Flonzaley, 32. per pedal, 169; to teach pedaling,
Quidant, Alfred, 157. 169. Grove's Dictionary, legato,
Quasi, corno, 203; discrezione, 198; slur, phrasing, 35, 36; appoggia-
improvisazione, 198. tura and acciaccatura, 78, 79, 80.
Quotations from: Albert, see d' Al- Hauptmann, M., harmony, 107;
bert. Bach, C. Ph. E., embel- Preface, v. Heberlein-Kohler,
lishments, 69; appoggiaturas, 76. C., L. Kohler's Pedal works, 155,
Bach, J. S. } cantabile playing, 95; 156. Heine, H., Chopin, 126.
diligence, 227. Bacon, Sir Hofmann, J., Rubinstein's piano-
Francis, investigation, 25; dis- reciting, 45; pedals, 193, 194.
cord, 76. Barrett and Stainer's Hughes Dictionary, appoggiatura
Dictionary, the appoggiatura, 78, and acciaccatura, 78, 80. Hune-
80. Beethoven, L. van, nuances, ker, J., Chopin, 118; Chopin's
7; notation,33; errata, 64; playing, 127. Hunt, L., Jets of
melody, 92, 93; trochaic measure, small notes, 67. Keats, J., gust
92; broken chords, 110, 111; of sounds, 120. Liszt, F.,
Pastoral Symphony, 143; to Chopin's new forms, 119, 120;
generate tone, 224, 225. Berlioz, his embellishments, 125; analysis
H., divines music, 2; bowings, 26, of his works, 127; indeterminate

27;' instrumentation of piano- contour of his music, 136, 137;
forte, 141 harmonics, 209; pedals,
; tempo rubato, 137, 138; letter to
214. Browning, R., discords, 86, Kohler, 156; letter to Schmitt,
87. Billow, Hans von, instru- 156, 157; sostenuto pedal, 182.
mentation of piano music, 25; Longfellow, H. W., rapture of
rendition, 28; legato, 37; non creation, 6. Marmontel, A.,
legato, 38, 39, 40; pearly touch, pedals, 193. Mathews and Lieb-
39; meno legato, 40; slurs, 41, 43, ling's Dictionary, appoggiatura,
44, 47; phono-
phrasing, 47; 80. Mendelssohn, F., language
graph, 88; Beethoven Sonata, Op. of music, 7; Chromatic Fantasie,
101, 186. Busoni, F., inter- 114, 115. Mikuli, K., tempo
preter, 7; transcription, 7; soste- rubato, 137. Milton, J., lofty
nuto pedal, 184. Century Diction- rhyme, 4; soul of harmony, 104.
ary, punctuation, 52. 'Chopin, F., Moscheles, J., Chopin's playing,
sing, 66; tempo rubato, 137; 132; pedals, 192, 193. Mozart,
legato, 170; pedal, 215. Czerny, W. A., tempo rubato, 136; knee
C., Beethoven's pedaling, 165; pedal, 1*87. Music journals, slurs,
senza sordino, 188, 189; fingering, 32, 33.. Raff, J. J., orchestra-
220, 221. d' Albert, instrumentation, 139. Reinecke, C., pedal,
tion of piano music, 25; legato, 186; Beethoven's rests, 194, 195.
25; non legato, 40. Elson's Dic- Riemann's Dictionary, appoggia-
tionary, appoggiatura, 78, 79. tura and acciaccatura, 79. Rosen-
Emerson, R. W., practice, 227. thai,M., Chopin's notation, 6;
Gorno, Albino, function of dam- Gorno's Pedal Studies, 158. Ros-
248 INDEX
Quotations from : Continued Relaxation, 26, 225, 227.

sini, G., dissonance, 74. Rubin- Renaissance, 73.
stein, A., subjective interpreta- Rendition, 216; correct, equivalent
tion, 45; piano-reciting, 45; to fine, 28; three grades in, 28.
music a hieroglyphic language, Repetition Action, see Piano.
45; embellishments, 7; piano- Resolution, 87, 88.
forte-Bard, 126; pedal, soul of Resonance, sympathetic, 210.
piano, 154; pedaling, to teach, Rests, 26, 36, 166; see Pauses.
155; soft pedal,Chopin's
180; Rests indicating silence, 8; mean-
Funeral March, 211; I play as a ing of, 10; may call for sustained
Musician, 215. Schindler, A., tone, 10, 194, 199; for finger, not
Beethoven's legato, 38; his for tone, 10, 20, 148, 149; sound-
rhetoric, 50, 51; his points of ing rests, manual execution sym-
repose, 51; his declamation, 53; bolized, 11, 194, 199; to attract
his playing, 86, 111. Schumann, attention, 17, 20; several voices
R., symbols, 6; agitated breathing may employ same, 20; may
in rests, 50; notation, 60; inner appear to belong to wrong voice-
ear, 88; melody and harmony, 20; agitated breathing in, 50;
117; qualities peculiar to piano, unwritten, 50, 224; destroyed by
127; Chopin's playing, 136; form, pedal, 194, 199.
139; shifting fingers, 175; study, Rhetoric, 50.
176. Schmitt, H., sempre pedale, Rhetorical pauses, 46.
197; Shakespeare, Wm., eloquent Rhythm, 47, 216.
music, 109. Shedlock, J. S., Rhythmic Group, 32.
Beethoven and the Sordino, 188, Riemann, Hugo, 158; his notation,
189. Streicher, Mme., Chopin's 31; his use of slur as mark of
rubato, 137. Thalberg, S., pedals, phrasing, his punctuation marks,
193. Venino, A.F., damper pedal, 52; Quotation from his dictionary,
185, 193.
Wagner, R., thought 78, 79.
unconveyable, 45; Beethoven's Roller, see Piano mechanism.
fermata, 51, 52; melody, 89. Romantic Music, 118.
Rosenhoff, Orla, 158.
Raff, J. J., 72, 118, 139. Rosenthal, M., Quotations from:
Rameau, J. P., 69. Gorno Pedal Studies, 158;
Read, learn to, 1, 2, 4. Chopin, 6. His legato effect; with
Reading, defined, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; staccato touch, 240; his manner
analogy between poetry and of practice, 217; his staccato with
music, 1-6; too many symbols pedal, 223.
make difficult reading, 4; diverse Rossini, G., Quotation from, 74.
authentic readings, 10. Rubato, see Tempo Rubato.
Recitative, 198. Rubinstein, A., 81, 107, 118, 157,
Reeds, 25. 167, 193; his American tour, 81;
Reinecke, Carl, 72, 87, 194. Quota- his playing, 81, 107, 180; Etude
tions from, 186, 194, 195. inC major, 85; his fist-touch, 227;
INDEX 249
Rubinstein, A., Continued Schumann, R., Continued

Historical Recitals, 180. Quota- notation of overtones, 211; Quo-
tions from: embellishments, 7; tations from, 6, 50, 88, 117, 127,
subjective interpretation, 45; 136, 139, 175. Compositions by:
music a hieroglyphic language, 143; Albumblaetter, Op. 124, No.
45; piano-reciting, 45; Piano- 4, 203; Allegro, Op. 8, 198;
forte Bard, 126; pedal, soul of Andante and Variations in B
piano, 154; pedaling, to teach, flat, 88; At the Fountain, 97, 98,
155; soft pedal, 180; Chopin's 116; Bunte Blaetter, Op. 99,
Funeral March, 211; I play as a No. 6, 12, 146, 148; Carnival, 60,
Musician, 215. 203, 210, 211; Concerto, Op. 134,
Rules, delicate variation from, 6; 192; Davidsbundlertanze, Op. 6,
master may disregard, 7. No. 1, 58; Farewell, 59; Forest
Scenes, 59, 84, 85; Kinderscenen,
Saint-Saens, C., his use of small Op. 15, No. 10, 14; Kreisleriana,
notes, 212, 213; Concertos in F Op. 16, 60, 101, 102; Novelette,
major, 212, in G
minor, 185; Op. 21, No. 6, 10, 148; Novelette,
Toccata F sharp minor, 98, 99, 116. Op. 21, No. 8, 61; Paganini,
Scarlatti, D., 69. from Carnival, 210, 211; Papillons
Schiller, Preface, 1. from Carnival, 203; Papillons,
Schindler, A. N., Quotations from Op. 2, 176, 185; Sonata for Piano
his Life of Beethoven, 38, 50, 53, and Violin, Op. 121, 199, 200;
86, 111. See Quotations. Studies from Caprices by Paga-
Schmitt, H., his Pedals of the nini, 175. Quotations from: sym-
Pianoforte, 156, 197, 209, 210. bols, 6; agitated breathing in
Letter from Liszt, 156, 157; rests, 50; notation, 60; inner ear,
Quotations from, 180, 197. 88; melody and harmony, 117;
Schubert, F., 118, 127, 212; his pedal qualities peculiar to piano, 127;
notation, 202, 203. His compo- Chopin's playing, 136; form, 139;
sitions, Sonata B flat, Posthu- shifting fingers, 175; study, 176.
mous, Op. 42, Op. 53, 202; Angel Schytte, Ludwig, Pedal Studies, 158,
of Beauty, 203; Gretchen at the 168, 169.
Spinning Wheel, 97, 116; Mo- Sembrich, Marcella, 65.
ments Musicals, 95, 96; Impromp- Sentence, 2, 3, 13, 31.
tu C sharp minor, Op. 90, No. 4, Sentential, see Pauses, Phrase, 3, 5,
96, 97, 111, 116. 42, 46, 49.
Schumann, R., 50, 172, 192, 193, Senza, tempo, pedale, sordino, see.
216; his pedal notation, 12, 13, 14; Sgambati, Giovanni, careful pedal
his use of the staccato dot, 19, 20; notation, 167, 196, 197; his Etude
his use of slur, 31; use of small de Concert, F sharp major, 197;
notes, 59; his notation of bass, Toccato A flat major, 196, 197.
59, 60; his quandary, 59, 60; his Shading, see Tone Color.
pedal notation, 197, 198, 200; Shakespearian Spelling, 13; Hamlet,
his ideas about studies, 217; his 45, Quotation, 109.
250 INDEX
Shedlock, J. S., 91, 188. Song, 4.

Shoulder, 24. Sonorous, see Tone.
Sight Reading, 216. Sordino, see Pedals, Damper Pedal.
Signs, see Silent, Bowing signs, Sordini, 188.
Symbols, Notation, Pedal, Ac- Sostenuto Pedal, see Pedals.
cent. Sotto Voce, 23, 30.
Silent Pressure of keys, 151-152; Sounding Board, see Piano, Mechan-
205, 206, 207, 211. ism of.
Singer, 6, 133, 146. Sounding Rests, 194, 199.
Skip, to play, 219. Sounds, Elementary, 13.
Slide, 65, 66. Staccato, 26, 27, 35, 49, 218, 224;.
Slur, 2, 4, 5, 17, 18, 24, 37, 44, 48, see Legato, Bowing Signs, Rests,
49, 57, 124, 126, 143; interlacing Non Legato, 19, 20, 36, 38, 39,
slurs, 6; significance of slur, 21, 40; pizzicato, 23, 25, 30, 35, 36,
29, 30; primary use of, 20, 49; 202; musical meaning of staccato,
used to group notes of melody, 20 ; 24; without attack, 31; semi-
to indicate alternate use of hands, staccato, 36; martellato, 36;
20; used by editors as mark of unslurred notes, 37; chord held
phrasing,. 20, 31, 49; not used by through rests, 199, 200; sustained
composers as mark of phrasing, tones written staccato, 202; stac-
20, 34; to embellish page, 24, over cato played with legato touch,
two notes, 26; over notes, one or 202; not necessarily from wrist,
more marked with dot, 26, 27, 30; 224. Staccato dot, 2, 4, 5, 19, 24,
extended, 26; musical meaning of, 30, 33, 35, 37, 44, 49; several
27; combined with dot, 27, 30; meanings of dot, 20; Chopin's
composers' use of, 30; a bowing use of, 20; musical meaning of,
sign, 30; authoritative usage of, 27; a bowing sign, 30*; for fingers,
31; 32; "conventional,"
"real," not tone, 115. Staccato dash,
32, 33, 34; incorrect statements notes marked by, 26, 30.
in print, 32, 35; not punctua- Staff, 2.
tional, 34; general effect of legato Stein, J. A., 190.
indicated by, 34, 42, 48, 49; first Steinway, Theodore, 182; Steinway
note under, 34; not an "effect," Third Pedal, see Pedals.
36; not to give finished appear- Stems, doubled, 4, 15, 17, 19, 20,
ance, 36, 37; not necessary to 91, 98, 101, 102, 143; indicating
indicate legato, 37; doubled, 41; alternate use of hands, 116.
dots under, 41; notes without Stiffness, 217, 226.
slur be legato or staccato,
may Stops, see Pedals.
37, 38; different slurrings with Strappata d'Orchestra, 56.
same meaning, 42; articular, 47; Strauss, R., 3.
vertical, 85, 114. Streicher, Mme., Quotation from,
Small Notes, see Note and Acciacca- 137.
tura. Strings, see Pedals, Piano, Violin,
Smith, F., 158. Violinist, Bowing.
INDEX 251
String Quartet, 128, 152, 166, 179. Theme in augmentation, 109-110;

See Flonzaley. embellished, 121, 122.
Student, Independence of, 21. Theory, 22, 116, 117, 139.
Studies, 217. Thumb, 13, 87, 218, 219, 222, 225;
not under ringers, 218; under
Stuttgart School, 224.
fingers, 219, 220, 221; Bach's use
Superlegato, 111, 112, 114, 115, 116,
See of, 220; on black keys, 220, 221;
170, 172, 178, 198, 205.
rigid, 226, 227; on tip, 225.
Legatissimo.
Tone, 3, 4; tone coloring, 6, 7, 20,
Subdivision, Mental, 126.
46, 106, 111, 119, 141, 142, 152,
Suspension, 75, 76, 111.
165, 204, 208, 209, 211, 214, 221,
Sustaining Pedals, see Pedals.
222, 225, 226, 227; attacked, 31,
Syllabic Tone Groups, 46.
32, '162, 222, 223; ideal, 23;
Symbols, significance of, 8-22, 7,
shading, 46, 116; attack and
21, 24, 30; suggestive guides, 5;
cessation of, not precisely indi-
music a miserable art without, 6;
cated, 54; longer than apparent
variable in meaning, 9, 16, 19,
value of note, 49, 57, 150, 151;
21, 41, 64; incorrect use of
resolving, 87; speech, 111;
becomes authoritative usage, 21;
qualities, 119; pure, 163, 211;
arbitrary signs, 23; musical and
marred by noises, 163; sympathe-
executional import of, 23, 24, 28;
tic, 163, 218; variety of, produci-
represent ideal musical effect, 24;
ble after striking key, 163; beauty
explanations confused by writers,
of, 205, thick, 208, ideal, 219;
24; guides to general effect only,
34. See Notation, Note, Notes, prolonged, 222; to generate, 225.
Tones, false division of, 4 appearing
;
Embellishments.
of themselves, 209, songful, 220,
Symbolized, Execution more sym- connection of, 116, 222. See
bolized than sound, 11; oversjr m-
Legato, sustained by fingers
bolized music difficult to read, 4;
alone, 179.
articulation, 23; music, 52, 54.
Touch, 8, 24, 119; pearly, 39, 127;
Sympathetic resonance, 210. SYN- differences in, 45; variety of, 117;
COPATED, 28, 29, 30, 136, 170. strength of, 119; accuracy of, 119,
222; finger touch, 66, 218, 222;

Taste, 7. varies with instrument, 222;
Teacher, 5, 32. Guilmant's staccato in legato
Technic, 7, 32, 91, 143, 216-227. passages, 223; determined by
Tempo, 6; marks of, 4; senza tempo, musical and technical demands,
198; tempo rubato, 132, 133, 135- 225.
138, 137, 198, 216. Transcriber's Mistakes, 14.
Tennis, 219. Transcription, 7.
Terminology, 3, 21, 23. Tre Corde, see Pedals.
Thalberg, S., 193, 222. Triad, 104, 105, 106, 129, 140.
Thematic Imitation, 109-110, 122, Trill, 70, 71, 72, 123, 146, 210;
132. trilling the pedal, 211.
252 INDEX
Triplets, 108, 123, 125, 135. Voices, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 95, 107,
Trochaic Measure, 92. 131, 133.
Trombones, 25, 148. Volubility, 127.
Trumpet, 25. Von Billow, see Billow.
Turn, 123.
Tutte le Corde, see Pedals. Wagner, R., Tristan and Isolda, 86,
Tutto il Cembalo, see Pedals. 87; Senta's Ballad, 211; Quota-
tions from: thought, 45; Beetho-
Una Corda, see Pedals. van's fermata, 51, 52; melody, 89.
Unmusical conditions, 223. Warsaw, ruin of, 212.
Unschuld, Marie von, 157. Wavy Line, 85.
Weber, J. R., 157.
Velocity, 219, 220. Weight, 224, 225.
Venino, A. F., 157; see Quotations. Welte Mignon Piano, 224.
Verschiebung, see Pedals. Whiting, A., 158.
Vertical Slur, see Slur. Wood Wind, 152.
Vibration, 27, 145, 159, 165, 211; Wind Instruments, see Musical
of piano strings, 12, 27, 145, 159, Instruments. -
165, 211; of voice, 12; periodic, Wrist, 24, 27, 146; automatically
27; sympathetic, 145; producing flexible, 226; low, 218; high, 218,
harmonics, 208; full, 224. 225; turned inward, 175, 219;
Violin, 25, see Bow, Bowing, Bowing turned outward, 219, 220; undu-
Signs. lating, 225.
Violinist, 29, 30; sordino of, 187. Writing, ancient, 1.
Violoncello, 9, 25, 140, 141, 142. Wullner, L., 216.
Virgil, A. M., 159.
Virtuoso, 215. Yodel, 210.
Vocalist's echo effect, 210. Ysaye, E. y 216.
Vociferation, 4.
/
MT Venable, Mary
75 The interpretation of
piano music
MvD
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE

CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

The Interpretation of Piano Music (By Mary Venable) (1913) PDF

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

The Interpretation of Piano Music (By Mary Venable) (1913) PDF

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

The Interpretation of

International Copyright Secured

ceptions of the composer are variable and inaccurate, being,

ples involved, in a way that is not merely of theoretic interest

mony: Duration and Dynamics of Tones in the Different

dealing with the pedal, and briefly explains various methods

THE LANGUAGE OF Music

learning to read a piece of music, for there may be said to be

represented by other sets of symbols which, like words, are

very difficult to master. Nevertheless it is evident that until

the student has acquired skill in the ready understanding of

the vibrations of a singing voice or of the strings of a piano.

Music a these essentials have been added numerous ac-

represent elementary sounds. The smallest organic unit in

or tones. Such a group, having a certain com- The period

independent of its organic relations to the whole

musical education is that which consists in teaching pupils

or sentence corresponds, insome degree, to the stanza of poetry;

component and the uniting of these together into

music rendered unintelligible.

Certain general indications symbolical of the intended

easy, nor is it always possible to know exactly the meaning of

punctuation marks not pleasant and facile reading and, simi-

larly, a piece of music which is over-edited by an excessive

notations still remains incompletely symbolized. The accom-

are added to the original score to suggest the correct mode of

punctuation, these auxiliaries usually, instead of being commas,

interpretation the inspired conception which lay in the^soul of

is the office of the competent editor to furnish. As Schumann

without language and symbols."

Those modulations of tone termed coloring and shading

rules, as a poet may break stereotyped rules of versification,

be considered as an accurate means to a definite

MUSICAL SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANING

adequacies of a notation addressing two senses, hearing and

edge of the language of music is essential in order to perceive

not definitely pitch of a note is absolutely determined by the

understand its true import; for in written pianoforte music,

pitch only is designated with definiteness; signs of tonal dura-

What could look simpler than the notes of Example 1 a?

the pianoforte, but imagined as in imitation of an orchestral

assumes a certain amount of musical insight and experience on

tones, to do so takes a great deal of the composer's valuable

through the measure in the manner shown at 2 b.

b. The bass, notated as it sounds, and accompanying chords.

The notation 2 6, more indicative of the desired musical

sustaining a tone without blurring other tones, or the

indicated. When in any voice there is a note of long or of

the word Ped., without giving a sign for pedal release or ;

he may employ the phrase sempre Pedale (always the pedal) ;

SCHUMANN Bunte Blatter, Op. 99, No. 6.

quarter-note. All these should be sustained as and dotted half-

In the note f e<* ual

player must here sustain and connect them partly by means of

desired orchestral or pianistic effect is indicated are numerous.

Transcribers frequently make sad work of pianoforte

occur, without the sustained bass, the final harmony

BACH Prelude in C Major from The Well-tempered Clavichord,

In the third measure of this Bach Prelude, which is written

BACH C# Minor Prelude.

Hidden in measure 18, which is given in the next example, is an

a. Imitation of Ex. 6, original notation.

b. A more complete notation.